THE SEA IN ME

Helge Letonja & Kossi Aholou-Wokawui

Many people flee across the Mediterranean to Europe, experiencing profound moments and traumas, perhaps even solidarity at sea.

How do those who have arrived process their feelings after the crossing? What remains of the experience, the memory of the odyssey? Being exposed to the dangers of the elements along with strangers, with the hope of arrival, the prospect of possible sea rescue, and the fear of being pushed back?

With La mer en moi (The Sea in Me), choreographer Helge Letonja, together with Togolese dancer Kossi S. Aholou-Wokawui, embarks on an artistic exploration. Accompanied by Médoune Seck and the intense textual art of Ela Fischer, they give body and voice to the unspoken.

Letonja transforms the stage into a space entirely dominated by water. Traces dissolve in the water and layers of time intermingle. Flashbacks and foreshadowing intertwine into stories. Embedded in the soundscapes of Volker Klein, musician and composer for film music and orchestras, Aholou-Wokawui’s dance in the water reflects the turbulent emotional landscape of people calming their lives after extreme experiences and starting anew. Water as a gentle and profound place of reflection and as a wild, turbulent element where humans become playthings of the tides and isolating forces.

idea, concept, stage: Helge Letonja | Choreography: Helge Letonja in collaboration with Kossi Aholou-Wokawui | Dance: Kossi Sebastien Aholou-Wokawui, Médoune Seck | Text, First Voice: Ela Fischer | Second Voice: Chrispin Delon Domalski | Sound, Composition: Volker Klein | Light: Carlos Heydt, Nathaniel Johnson

A production by steptext dance project in coproduction with Of Curious Nature/TanzRAUM Nord. Steptext dance project will sponsored by Senator for Culture Bremen