Barbara Fuchs's Latest Posts

Pffhhh… – A rubber dance play
Bicycle tube snails, tyre-furniture, air pump-kisses and in the midst of all is a dancer who moves as if made of rubber. Seemingly boneless and rather flexible the rubber girl moves through her own world. Here everything can be twisted, squashed, blown up and formed. Everything squeals, gnarls and pipes. Pffhhh… The choreographer and dancer Barbara Fuchs likes to twist the common view on objects and their material qualities. Leaning on anarchy, with affection for the absurd and for humour she engages in her artistic composition. Together with composer Jörg Ritzenhoff she developed Pffhhh…, a solo where not only rubber in various manifestations but also dancer Odile Foehl are tested for their elastic potential. The tanzfuchs team breathes a new life to bicycle tubes and rubber tyres, creates new spaces for experience beyond the known and changes things to companions of the dancer. Everything is object to change, yet never for long.
Pffhhh… is part of the performance project RESPACE on the relations between space, memory, sound and performance by the label tanzfuchs PRODUKTION, headed by Barbara Fuchs.
The premiere of Pfffhh… took place on 30 June 2016 at tanzhaus nrw in Dusseldorf.
DATES
24 & 25 November 2022 | 10 am
26 & 27 November 2022 | 4 pm
TEAM
Artistic direction: Barbara Fuchs
Dance: Odile Foehl
Music: Jörg Ritzenhoff
Choreographic assistence: Emily Welther
Stage: Barbara Fuchs
PR: Kerstin Rosemann
Photography: cMEYER_ORIGINALS
A tanzfuchs PRODUKTION, co-produced by tanzhaus nrw as part of Take-off: Junger Tanz, supported by Landeshauptstadt Düsseldorf and Ministerium für Familie, Kinder, Jugend, Kultur und Sport des Landes NRW. Also co-produced by BARNES CROSSING Freiraum für TanzPerformanceKunst. The production is further supported by Kulturamt der Stadt Köln, Ministerium für Familie, Kinder, Jugend, Kultur und Sport des Landes NRW and NRW Landesbüro Freie Darstellende Künste. Supported also by the Fonds Darstellende Künste e.V. tanzfuchs PRODUKTION is endorsed by RheinEnergie Stiftung Kultur.
Press quotes
Neue Westfälische, Paderborn 23.11.2017
Queen of the rubber world
“She wakes up in a bed of rubber, starts a poetic performance with rubber tires and bicycle tubes and becomes, among other things, the queen of this freely designable space. In the studio of the theatre it squeaks and whistles, and by means of a loop machine the rubber girl creates the appropriate sound cosmos, which gets along without words.
Westdeutsche Zeitung, Krefeld 21.11.2016
Rubber woman inspires the spectators in the Heeder
[…] The wirily flexible dancer Odile Foehl stretches and stretches, bounces on the floor like a rubber ball and in the next position bends her limbs as if they were also made of rubber. At first, the kids on the benches are breathless excitement, incredulous amazement and then loud laughter.
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PIECE OF PAPER
It crackles and rustles, folds, crumples and tears, it is flexible, malleable and can also cut. There are many colours, sizes and thicknesses. Usually they write and print on it, and they also like to paint or do handicrafts: Paper. Cologne based choreographer Barbara Fuchs ventures into the paper jungle with dancer Sonia Mota and composer Jörg Ritzenhoff. With the help of paper, they make changes, external influences and temporal processes visible: paper “remembers” every wrinkle, every tear and every cut. And just as traces and external influences inscribe themselves in paper, experiences and impressions are inscribed in our bodies – through scars, quirks, wrinkles. Hardly anyone can embody this reminiscent body better than Sonia Mota, who turns 70 this year; she is an “archivist” of movements and dance. Together with the musician Jörg Ritzenhoff they roam the paper jungle and tell their experiences and stories with live sound and movements.
The premiere of PIECE OF PAPER took place on 27 September 2018 at tanzhaus nrw in Düsseldorf.
TEAM
Artistic director: Barbara Fuchs
Dance: Sonia Mota
Music: Jörg Ritzenhoff
Stage: Odile Foehl
Light: Wolfgang Pütz
Dramaturgy: Henrike Kollmar
Assistance: Emily Welther
PR: Kerstin Rosemann
Photography: cMEYER_ORIGINALS
PIECE OF PAPER is co-produced by tanzhaus nrw as part of Take-off, the Kulturamt der Stadt Köln, the NRW Landesbüro Freie Darstellende Künste, the Fonds Darstellende Künste, the Kunststiftung NRW and the Ministerium für Wissenschaft und Kultur des Landes NRW. tanzfuchs PRODUKTION is supported by the RheinEnergie Stiftung Kultur.
Press quotes
O-Ton | Kulturmagazin mit Charakter
by Michael S. Zerban
The deeper meaning of the paper
[…] And the fact that you can create interesting music with paper and cardboard also causes a lot of amazement. On the other hand, the Magic Flute for children is really old hat. […] An all-round beautiful afternoon for the children comes to an end – and one wishes that many more children would enjoy such an imaginative, varied and original performance. […]
Tanzende Säcke (choices.de) / Laudatio for the Cologne Children’s and Youth Theatre Prize
by Thomas Linden
[…] In hardly any other production this year was there so much laughter as in the wordless “PIECE OF PAPER”. The poetry of the material lies in its analogy to skin, which also casts wrinkles and on which time and memory also inscribe themselves. […]
Stadtrevue
by Melanie Suchy
New in the theater – PIECE OF PAPER
[…] The paper is paired with music, all the rustling, tearing, crackling, splashing becomes rhythm. A great game! […]
Laudation of the WESTWIND jury
[…] Barbara Fuchs has choreographed a scenic concert with the “PIECE OF PAPER” and the performance has an unbelievably affectionate atmosphere, turned towards the audience. It works for the youngest and for any other age as well. Here the pure play, shimmering creativity, cheerfulness, nonsense, freedom reigns. Highest art! […]

Schlalalalaufen
Street cradle cat’s eye, run sneak loop: Here everything runs on a string, a dancer and a dancer, up and down, criss-cross. They stretch strings, wind and tangle themselves and others, spin patterns and paths and lead the spectators through ever-changing landscapes.
The thread games known in many cultures are the basis of inspiration for this mobile dance piece. From the hands they are transferred to other parts of the body and the audience is also included to play the whole space. Patterns are given and received, something falls, something works, everything transforms and everyone is connected to everyone else.
It is a fun, collaborative piece that encourages complex movement and collective thinking.
TRAILER
DATES
21.5.22 I 4 pm
23. & 24.5.22 I 10 am
at the ehrenfeldstudios, Cologne
TEAM
Dancers: Minju Kim and Moonjoo Kim
Regie / Choreographie: Barbara Fuchs
Music / Composition: Jörg Ritzenhoff
Singing: Antonia Ritzenhoff
Equipment: Barbara Fuchs
Dramaturgy: Andrea Kramer
A production of Consol Theatre Gelsenkirchen
Sponsored by the Ministry of Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia


Karla, Ändi, Arthur
Barking and singing, fur-covered stones and furry flowers, here a breeze blows, a smell comes from there – in Karla’s, Ändi’s and Arthur’s world there is much to see, hear and feel – each of the three does this in his/her own way: Karla sees with her knee, Ändi preferably with her nose. Arthur prefers to look good. Besides, Karla is older than Ändi and Arthur, Ändi has four legs instead of two, and Arthur is the only one with dark hair. On the other hand, Ändi can drum with his tail, Karla knows how to dress, and Arthur knows how to move. In this world dogs and humans are equal: no matter wether they are quadrupeds or bipeds, old or young, fury or not – cuddling, kissing, chatting, rubbing, dancing or looking at the stars is most beautiful in a when done with the three of them.
Choreographer Barbara Fuchs, composer Jörg Ritzenhoff and the dancer Arthur Schopa have let Karla Faßbender and her guide dog Ändi show them a new world. It is not the world as we know it through which Ändi leads Karla, but a realm in which all of the senses are equal. Follow, Karla, Ändi and Arthur into this unique world.
Dates
Sun. 2 October 2022 | 3 pm
Mon. 3 October 2022 | 10.30 am
Past dates:
1st October 2021 I PREMIERE | ehrenfeldstudios, Cologne
29 & 30 January 2022 I 4pm
31 January & 1st February 2022 I 10am
ehrenfeldstudios, Cologne
For people with visual impairments, we offer a touch tour on stage half an hour before the performance. Please register for this with us in advance.
Team
Idea, artistic direction: Barbara Fuchs
Music and lyrics: Jörg Ritzenhoff
Performance: Karla Faßbender, Ändi, Arthur Schopa
Choreography Arthur Schopa & Barbara Fuchs
Narrator Gisela Nohl
Stage Odile Foehl
Costume design: Stefanie Bold
Lighting: Wolfgang Pütz
Mediation and dramaturgy Vivica Bocks
Production management: Carina Graf
Press relations: Kerstin Rosemann
Photos: Sabine Grosse-Wortmann
Supported by the Ministry of Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, by the Fonds Darstellende Künste with funds from the Beauftragten
of the Federal Government for Culture and Media and the Cultural Office of the City of Cologne and RheinEnergie Stiftung Kultur.
Co-produced by tanzhaus nrw and Feldtheater Berlin.
Ändi
Allein, zu zweit, zu dritt

Fatty Chain
Side by side, behind each other, around in a circle – hands held out, shoulders clasped, elbows hooked underneath – six dancers move through the room like one unit. Together they create the rhythm that guides them. Who leads the group? Is there a master of ceremonies? Through the complexity of movement, rhythm and song, the performers merge into a unity, a chain: like the links of a chain, they are interwoven, connected, sometimes open, sometimes closed – without beginning – without end, sometimes as a circle, sometimes as a row. With their movements they interweave, tie themselves to each other and thus create a human web, a body chain. They negotiate with each other, each is responsible – each chain is as strong as its weakest link. The performers engage in an increasingly frenzied game, breathing new energy and fun into the time-honored dances and chants. This creates a dynamic and rhythm that is also transferred to the audience and breathes new life into the tradition of the round dance. With her new production, choreographer Barbara Fuchs immerses herself in the tradition of the REIG – in this oldest cultural asset of the Occident, dance and song become a community-building ritual. All movements – no matter from which culture they originate – become a ceremonial act and the dance a magical ceremony of movement. The bodies of the performers are central to the ritual acts as well as to the collective embodiment. After the round dance was replaced by the couple dance in Europe, this collective kind of embodiment still shows up in everyday ritual actions: from playing and storytelling together in kindergarten, to spiritual body communities in yoga and tai chi, to collectively ecstatic bodies in la ola waves and communal chants in soccer stadiums FATTY CHAIN is a production of tanzfuchs PRODUKTION in cooperation with ehrenfeldstudios e.V., supported by the Cultural Office of the City of Cologne, the Ministry of Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia and the Fonds Darstellende Künste. tanzfuchs PRODUKTION receives top funding from the State of North Rhine-Westphalia.
DATES
Sat. August 21 I 6pm I PREMIERE
Sun. August 22 I 4pm
Mon. 23 & Tue. August 24 I 10am
Sat. 16 & Sun. October 17 I 4pm
at ehrenfeldstudios, Cologne
*Sat. & Sun. before the performance: “ONE MOMENT, PLEASE” – a 10-minute improvisation performance by Caroline Simon
TEAM
Direction, Stage, Light: Barbara Fuchs
Music: Jörg Ritzenhoff
Performance: Odile Foehl, Katharina Sim, Alina Feske, Arthur Schopa, Michael Zier, Philine Herrlein
Costume: Stefanie Bold Lighting: Wolfgang Pütz
Press Work: Kerstin Rosemann
Production Management: Olivia Bott
NRW Scholarship holder for children’s and youth theater: Ronja Nadler