Part of You

What do we have under control?

How much control are we prepared to relinquish?

What are our freedoms made of and are we prepared to give them up?

Surveillance is no longer controlled by a clearly defined apparatus but become part of us.

Thanks to smart phones and laptops we can work from anywhere, watch movies on the subway, book our tickets online or conveniently let the GPS show us the way. Since the secret service documents of various institutions have become public, we have become aware of the downside of this mobility – at least in theory. After all it’s not only the omnipresent cameras in supermarkets and public buildings but also the digital traces we leave behind in our everyday life that make our lives completely open to scrutiny. Surveillance is no longer controlled by a clearly defined apparatus but become part of us. But this hardly seems to trouble many.

In their latest production, the dancers of Grupo Oito approach the topic of the subtle process of an increasing surveillance and control and the effects this has on our bodies and our perception of space. They trace it, make it visible and perceptible. Part of You wants to make tangible the inconceivable digital, the seemingly non-physical. What are our freedoms made of and are we prepared to give them up? What do we have under control and how much control are we prepared to relinquish? As in previous productions the group focuses on the politics of the body and enquires how our bodies and our movements change due to the constant presence of an undefined other.

Wie in einem Hamsterrad umrunden die sechs Performer das Karree der Zuschauer. Mal geben sie die Smartphone-Zombies, sklavisch am Display hängend. Dann wieder stürmen sie vorwärts und nehmen rasant alles mit, was das Interieur des Ballhauses Naunynstraße zu bieten hat. 

― Annett Jaensch (Tanzpresse.de)

Trailer