Femcel Debutante Club (WT)

Showing by Yvonne Sembene in the frame of Tanznacht Forum EXPANDED

During her residency, Yvonne Sembene combines dance, voice and operatic tools to critically examine the waltz, debutante balls and their socially entrenched notions of class, gender and power.

At the centre is the question: How can hyperfemininity be represented, subverted or reclaimed within these historically rigid frameworks? Yvonne Sembene's interest is to explore how the waltz has been used to reinforce gender roles and class boundaries. Can new spaces for resistance be opened up in its fluidity?

Other central motifs of her artistic research are neoclassical and neotraditional aesthetics, which are often appropriated by right-wing nationalist ideologies. How can these be reinterpreted to convey alternative socio-political narratives? By playing with form, voice and hyper-performative elements, Sembene aims to rework these symbols of social order and reshape their impact on identity and belonging.

Sembene's overarching assumption is that the medium of dance harbours the means to deal with the political aspects of tradition. It remains to be seen what these might be.

Residency Grüntaler 9: Yvonne Sembene

Performance: Yvonne Sembene, N.N.

Supported by Tanzfabrik Berlin & Tanznacht Berlin

Funded by the Senatsverwaltung für Kultur und Gesellschaftlichen Zusammenhalt des Landes Berlin through the four-year, open to all sections funding programme for festivals and series of events.

Supported by the Institut français and the République française.

Yvonne Sembene (she/her) is a French-Senegalese GDR dance artist. She lives in Berlin. Her work focusses on colonial influences on contemporary identities, especially in the European and German context, as well as on decolonial feminist discourses. She is currently exploring Afro-German SLINTA perspectives on neo-traditionalism and neo-classicism and their place in matriarchal fantasies. In addition to her choreographic practice, Sembene composes music for her own and other works. She is currently expanding her performance practice to include opera direction. She is also regularly invited to participate in local cultural policy discussions in labs and exchange formats. She has been a critical speaker and moderator for Aktion Tanz and the Freiburg Theatre, the Tanztreffen der Jugend, the Pop-Kultur festival and a jury member for the ID_Tanzhaus residency and the Kunst im Untergrund art competition.

Next date:

• Date Thursday, 05/December/2024 19:00 (3 more dates)
• Venue Tanzfabrik Berlin: Tanzfabrik Berlin BÜHNE x Grüntaler 9
• Address Grüntaler Straße 9, 13357 Berlin-Wedding