Pavane | Streaming

Art or artifice? Beauty or optical illusion?
In dialogue with the electronic live-sound of musician Korhan Erel, Léonard Engel transposes ani-mal behaviors like mimicry or highly codified mating rituals to the human anatomy. By doing so, he exposes their abstract qualities and sets them in relation with the Pavane (from the Spanish pavón, peacock), a processional dance from the Renaissance in which the participants display their lustrous attire. His performance opens new perspectives on the artistic value of animal dances, while creating a new masculinity that tries to seduce through dance, glitter and hypnotic movement, far from a normative display of strength.

Léonard Engel – concept, choreography, performance
Korhan Erel – music, performance
Maja Zimmermann – dramaturgy
Tamara Saphir, Lisa Simpson – realisation costumes
Sophiensæle, Berlin – co-production
Thanks to Ricardo Pereira (Department for Evolutionary Biology, LMU Munich), Sebastian Matthias

Performance at DOCK11, Berlin
Naia Burucoa – Lights
Videodocumentation: Walter Bickmann | Tanzforum Berlin