Throughout my stay in Israel in 2016, I have been time and again exposed to the complexity and rigidity of the geopolitical situation. It is wrong to discriminate against someone on the basis of race, gender, or sexual preference, but my experience in Israel has reminded me frequently that humans still discriminate based on where people are born. This moral issue is based on physical land, but tensions regarding boundaries can take a variety of forms. In the dynamics of the internalization and globalization geographical borders are more and more considered as challenges for further integration. At the same time borders still are considered to be relevant in many ways. Borders represent important values of identity of people and demarcate the sovereignty of governments. Because of this tension between borders as 'meeting-places' and as 'cut-off lines', the role of borders has become an interesting topic to me to investigate creatively.

What if the complexity of borders could develop through research of movement boundaries? For Festival de Oversteek I researched the physical and limited space of the performer’s body and how this influences our behavior in partnerships. What partnering tools can I use to foster cross-border partnerships that also draw on an individual dancer’s moral concept? Festival de Oversteek provided an unique chance to work ‘on’ physical land and get inspired by the natural borders of the surrounded landscape.

Five young performers from different countries share confronting situations, losses and accomplisments to reflect on their own migration proces.

DANCERS
Alkis Barbas
David Garlick
Dylan Kuyper
Jonne Covers
Yuliya Globa

COMPOSER
Kaspar Föhres