And in the beginning there was a dance theater performance that invited us to dream...

“2050 - Unsere Utopien” invites you to dream the possible and rethink the feasible. Imagine a world in which social and ecological challenges have been overcome. A world full of living utopias, free from oppression. We combine dance, storytelling and spiritual elements. Accompanied by Eurico Ferreira Mathias on the cello and Djielifily Sako on the kora, we create a world in which the rights of all take precedence over the privileges of the few. Community and togetherness are lived.

This artistic experiment is intended to inspire. Using bodies, voices and instruments, we paint pictures of a hopeful future. Instead of presenting fixed solutions, we want to inspire the imagination and open up new perspectives.

“2050 - Unsere Utopien” is more than a performance - it is a call to think about the future together and to shape it. Be inspired and experience a world full of possibilities.

At Radialsystem Berlin
Premiere: 03.10.2024
Further performances: 04.10 - 06.10.2024

Concept / Artistic Director / Choreography / Performance / Text

The choreographer, dancer, curator, speaker and activist Raphael Moussa Hillebrand was born in Hong Kong. Rooted in Germany and West Africa, raised in Berlin and influenced by hip-hop, he completed his master's degree in choreography at the Berlin University of the Arts - HZT Berlin in 2014.

His international and national works are a fusion of body and language, a creative journey through decolonial narratives that encourage the audience to rethink. For over 20 years, he has forged creative connections with dancers worldwide as a member of the groups Battle Squad, Animatronik and through institutional collaborations.

As a source of ideas and founding member of the hip-hop party Die Urbane, he is committed to decolonization, empowerment and cultural diversity. In 2013, Hillebrand was awarded second place in the “Best German Dance Solo” competition. In 2017, “Peng! Peng! Boateng!”, in which he did the choreographic work, was awarded the Ikarus Prize for outstanding theater for children and young people. In 2020, he was awarded the German Dance Prize for outstanding artistic development.

Choreography / Performance / Text

Music - Chello

Musician cellist/improviser who develops a personal vocabulary on his instrument. Eurico is an art lover at first.

His improvisations and expressions transcend musical styles and art forms. He is a creative partner of film and theater makers, actors, storytellers, poets, dancers, painters, sculptors, photographers and musicians.

Eurico plays and collaborates with different musicians/ensembles/groups in Europe, South Asia and Brazil at the moment, in different genres and styles having the goal to explore new sounds, techniques, and ways to play his cello in a non-classical conventional form, on recordings and at live concerts with ensembles such as The String Archestra and Muacy Trio that his a founder.
www.euricoferreiramathias.com / Instagram

Music - Kora

Djelifily Sako comes from a renowned family of musicians and griots in Mali and is a master of the kora, a 21-stringed bridge harp. He was a student of the famous Sidiki Diabate and later of Toumani Diabate, with whom he had numerous concert and television appearances in Bamako.

He has lived in Berlin for almost 15 years and has played at almost every major venue in the capital. Today, he combines his repertoire, which he learned in the traditional way, with modern influences to create unique, jazzy sounds and reinterprets traditional music with a fresh, contemporary touch.

Direction & Choreography Assistance

Kysy Fischer (BR) uses humor to confuse disciplines such as dance, performance and theater. As a choreographer, she is interested in the minimalist exaggeration as well as playing with contradictions, seeking forms of contact with the audience and criticizing the hierarchies of art practices and spaces.

In her academic research in Brazil, she explored performance art as an applied philosophical practice. She holds a MA in Choreography with Distinction at HZT Berlin and directs the feminist collective ABA NAIA.
Instagram / Facebook / www.abanaia.com

Dramaturgy

Amrit Walia ist Theatervermittlerin und Dramaturgin. Nach ihrem Bachelor in Maastricht und Madrid absolvierte sie einen Master in Migration and Development Studies an der School of Oriental and African Studies in London. Sie bildete sich parallel in Theaterpädagogik weiter und initiierte freie Theaterprojekte in London und Berlin. Von 2018 bis 2021 leitete sie die akademie der autodidakten am Ballhaus Naunynstraße. Anschließend übernahm sie bis Ende der Spielzeit 2023 die Teamleitung der Abteilung Künstlerische Vermittlung und Partizipation am Theater an der Parkaue.

Dramaturgy

To Doan is a Berlin based writer. Doan’s first play ‚RISKANT. VÖGEL AUFSCHEUCHEN‘ premiered at Ballhaus Naunynstraße. Their rewrite of ‚FRANKENSTEIN‘ based on motifs by Mary Shelley with texts by Julienne De Muirier was also created at Theater Lübeck in 2023. Together with Patu they founded BOOMZINES, an independent Platform for BIPoC Zinemaking and self publishing.

They studied philosophy, literature (Berlin/Paris), dramaturgy (Frankfurt) and biographical and creative writing (Berlin). Doan writes theater and prose texts, poems and articles and has long been involved in the critique of racism and intersectional discrimination. They are also trained as a recovery guide and have worked as a peer counselor with people in mental health crisis, developed and led recovery and writing groups and conducted research on the topics as a peer researcher.
Instagram / Facebook / Wordpress

Outside Eye

Magda Korsinsky is a visual artist and choreographer. Her works have been presented in numerous exhibitions, including at Kunsthaus Dresden, Savvy Contemporary e.V. and the Bundeskunsthalle; her choreographic works have been performed at Sophiensaele, Theater Oberhausen, Theater der Jungen Welt and Ballhaus Naunynstrasse, among others.

Her participatory piece “Macht PAUSE” (14+) at Theater an der Parkaue was nominated for the IKARUS Prize 2023 and was shortlisted for this year's Theatertreffen der Jugend.
Instagram / Facebook

Production management

Kostüm

Marcus Barros Cardoso ist gebürtiger Brasilianer mit portugiesischem Vater. Nach einer Ausbildung zum Video- und Fernsehproduzenten mit Schwerpunkt Ausstattung, zahlreichen Bildende-Kunst Workshops, einer Kostüm-Hospitanz in der Schaubühne am Lehniner Platz und einer IHK-Weiterbildung als Gestalter für Visuelles Marketing arbeitet er weltweit als Modedesigner, Stylist, Ausstatter, Kostüm- und Bühnenbildner.

Seit 2003 lebt er in Berlin. Zu seinen Referenzen zählen renommierte Häuser wie die Arena di Verona, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Bauhaus Dessau, Hebbel am Ufer, Kampnagel, Oper Köln, Palais de Tokyo, Ramallah Cultural Palace, Tanzhaus NRW, Thalia Theater und die Volksbühne. Er hat mit namhaften Persönlichkeiten und Ensembles wie Bob Wilson, Constanza Macras/Dorky Park, Disney, Flying Steps, Giovanni Zarrella, La Horde, dem „Triadischen Ballett“ und Pina Bausch zusammengearbeitet.
www.marcusbarroscardoso.com

Lighting design

Jörg Bittner studied theater and event technology in Berlin and took over the technical management of the Sophiensæle from 2000-2008. There he developed the lighting design for numerous dance, spoken word and musical theater productions.

Since 2008, he has worked primarily with Jochen Sandig and Folkert Uhde, as well as Sasha Waltz at the Radialsystem. Examples of this are the productions “Human Requiem” and “Liberté” with the Rundfunkchor Berlin as well as the “Johannes Passion”, the “Mass in B minor” with the Bavarian Radio Choir and “Freiheit/Beethoven 7” by Sasha Waltz.

Jörg Bittner has worked with choreographers and artists including: Constanza Macras, Sasha Waltz, Meg Stuart, Nicola Hümpel (Nico & The Navigators), Sven Holm (Novoflot), Ulrich Rasche, Heroines of Sound as well as for the festivals Märzmusik, Ultraschall and A L'ARME.

Since 2014, he has been designing the lighting for the concerts of Oscar-winning Hauschka, aka Volker Bertelmann. In 2019, he taught as a guest lecturer at the Berlin University of the Arts. He has been head of the Radialsystem's lighting department since 2019.

PR in cooperation with Team Kommunikation Radialsystem

Photos

Denis “Kooné” Kuhnert grew up in hip-hop culture, graffitiing and breaking walls. This background has strongly influenced his artistic journey. After success on the biggest stages of the b-boy community, he has worked as a choreographer and dancer with contemporary dance companies. These experiences in visual storytelling through movement have significantly influenced his development as a photographer.

His photography is characterized by capturing dynamic moments in urban life and telling powerful stories. His images combine people, urban moods and movement and almost seem like dreams that question what seems possible in real life. They invite you to pause and marvel and question the notion of reality. Basically, it's about doing things differently, making an effort to achieve something or simply taking a different direction in life.
www.koone.de / Instagram

Costume for photos

A production by Raphael Moussa Hillebrand. Funded by the Hauptstadtkulturfonds.
Partnerships:
EOTO (Each one teach one e.V.) / ISD (Initiative Schwarze Menschen in Deutschland Bund e.V.) /
RADIALSYSTEM / ZLB (America Memorial Library)