THE ISLAND OF RENEGADES is a contemporary dance video portraying an interpersonal fiction between two individuals, in which one leaves the other. Their separation is also a break with an existing value system that is driven to an emotional crescendo.
The piece "on her shoulders" by Finja Kelpe and the artist collective "Visitors" is a powerful mixture of contemporary dance and song that explores the paradoxes and boundaries of the world of work and consumption. seven dancers and a singer immerse themselves in the mind of a supermarket cashier, look for people in a de-individualised system, and pose the question: What happens when the outer and inner worlds collide? An anarchical energy emerges, fuelled by opposites, optimism and impotence, rigidity and lightness, 90s dance music and a powerful performance that calls into question the absurdity of modern capitalism.
Pictures by Marie Pietruschka
Premiere night at Hamburger Sprechwerk
Thanks to everyone that took part on such a special evening <3
"Blurring the lines between electronica, jazz and experimental-pop, Cape Town’s favourite multimedia artist and songstress Amy Ayanda delivers a beautifully crafted video for “Visitors” featuring an array of performing dancers during a day-setting, before bursting into a radiant, fluorescent neon-lit dancefloor casting shadows upon synchronized theatrics."
RedBull.com, 25.09.2019; 10 Aesthetically Appealing Music Videos; Written by Shannon Lawlor
ANONYM is a videographic representation of the statement: I am who I am and I have no name. Our focus rests on the absence of an openly-displayed individuality and the uniformity of a crowd – both in appearance and in movement. While at the same time, half-covered–or perhaps half-revealed–faces invite the viewer to wait for more and tempts them with the all-too-common desire to break the anonymity of others while preserving one’s own. The anonymous dancers’ central means of personal expression is the dance itself, whose black-and-white synchronicity allows their appearance to stand out from our gaudy-colorful society and personalized lived realities.
Direction & choreography: Finja Kelpe
Dancers: Franzi Wagner, Maren „Funky Mae“ Wittig, Verena Eccardt
D.o.P: Moritz Carstens
1st AC: Norbert Buschek
Costume: Corvera Vargas, Cayambe Hutmanufaktur
Music/Songtext: Beti Cham - Glory
Graphic design: kimera, Michael Clasen
Post-production: Finja Kelpe, Verena Eccardt
Text: Eileen Kelpe
Funded by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media in the program NEUSTART KULTUR, aid program DIS-TANZEN of the Dachverband Tanz Deutschland