Felix Ruckert

Felix Ruckert is considered to be one of the most unusual and innovative choreographers on the German scene. It has taken years for his radical concepts and experimental stage forms to be accepted. He is now internationally recognised as one of the major choreographers of the present day. Before creating works such as HAUTNAH, RING, DELUXE JOY PILOT and SECRET SERVICE, he danced with Wanda Golonka, Mathilde Monnier, and Pina Bausch, among others. Ruckert often gives the spectator an active role in the performance, confronting him/her with intensive emotions. Another central point in his work is the development of structures for improvisation and composition (TOOLS-System). With about 70 shows a year touring all around the world, his company is among the most active groups in Berlin. Recently the demand for his work as a guest-choreographer for ballet companies has increased.

He has been actively interested in BDSM for several years and is currently integrating this experience into his choreographic work..

For more information see: www.felixruckert.de

His Workshops:

Skin

The skin is our largest sense organ. Quicker and in a way more direct than the eyes, nose or ears, it links us to our environment. Despite its being a unifie structure, the skin is made of many different surfaces. It displays differences in thickness, elasticity and sensitivity and gives us reliable information about push, pull, friction and temperature.

The workshop combines the active use of the skin as an instrument of perception with techniques for its manipulation and stimulation. It illustrates its possibilities as means of communication with the environment and with other people. A special focus is pu on the psychological and emotional effects of these different techniques.

Touch

There are thousands of possible ways to touch someone. We can touch to stimulate or to relax, to give or to receive, to prompt or to restrain movement. We can relate to the surface of the body, the muscles, the bones or the organs. Through touch we can lead or follow. We can have either anatomical/technical touch or sensual/emotional touch. Touch provides lots of information that allows for precise communication between individuals.

Contemporary Ritual

Felix Ruckert believes that performing art always deals with the exhibition of intimacy. Similarly, it is possible for the conscious exhibition of real intimacy to attain the quality of performing art. As a choreographer, Ruckert has became recognized specifically for his interactive creations in which the public is pu into direct physical relation with the dance. In the workshop- through practical examples of his choreography- he will show how intimate action becomes performance. He will employ simple, easy-to-learn exercises and specific tasks which lead to complex pictures in movement through a process of choreographic structuring. Samples of choreographic work will be taken from creations such as HAUTNAH (1995), RING (1999), and SECRET SERVICE (2002).