PROGRAMME
When their song fell silent, there was mortal danger. Canaries were once taken into mines to detect carbon monoxide and other poisonous gases: if the bird collapsed in its cage underground, the pitmen knew they had to find their way to the surface as quickly as possible. The term „canary in the coal mine“ has since become a widely used metaphor: it refers to the proverbial harbinger of doom, the early warning sign of as yet invisible risks.
Liquid Loft & PHACE, the ensemble for new music, allude to the canary in the coal mine as they continue their Soirée Dansante series at the Vienna Odeon. The title of their latest collaboration, coal mine birds, applies to all those who can sense the uncertainty of the near future and its threats more precisely than most of us, who can feel them in their own bodies; it applies to those who create art today in order to make tomorrow tangible, as indicators and seismographs of the social, political, cultural and ecological upheavals that lie ahead.
So the congress is still dancing, spinning incessantly in its shadow world and twilight zones. coal mine birds offers musical theatre beyond contemporary opera models. The audience enters a stage-on-stage, is drawn into the events as a sculptural environment. Six contemporary compositions are performed live – works by Simon Steen Andersen, Alessandro Baticci, Jerome Combier, François Sarhan, Agata Zubel and Liquid Loft sound impresario Andreas Berger: music that recalls history in order to project the future. The spectrum of additional opera citations ranges from Mozart's Queen of the Night Der Hölle Rache kocht in meinem Herzen to Dido's Lament aka When I Am Laid in Earth, the final aria from Henry Purcell's Dido and Aeneas. Emotions freeze, laughter turns to despair, and tension mounts, the performers are spellbound in the surface of their larger-than-life images.
Thus, an installative dance evening takes shape as a ghostly variation on a soirée dansante, in which measures are taken against melancholy and loneliness, towards a longed-for ecstasy, a form of boundlessness. The bodies, positioned frontally, have something to tell us, they communicate – beyond words – through the mirrors in front of (and inside) them; they become permeable, as if one could penetrate their souls getting through the outer and inner layers of their skin. They arise unexpectedly, only to disintegrate again, without stability, like an idea flashing through the synapses, like an urgent memory or a utopia that cannot last.
The writer Kurt Vonnegut once proposed the „most positive idea“ on the question of what use the arts can have at all: He came up with his „canary in the coal mine“ theory: artists benefit society because they sound the alarm, they illustrate the destructive forces that threaten us. They are the first to fall in order to spare their descendants from destruction. Those who point out life-threatening dangers accept the risk of their own ruin. Respect is due to the courage of those who warn, those who feel and see, those who make themselves available as coal mine birds, who are able to open our eyes with their sad songs.
Venue & Accessibility:
Odeon
Taborstraße 10, 1020 Vienna
U1, U4, Tram 1: Schwedenplatz; Tram 2: Gredlerstraße
Stepless access to the theatre via the side entrance “Stiege II (Große Mohrengasse 5, 1020 Vienna)” and an elevator to the first floor (102 cm wide and 88 cm deep, the door is 75 cm wide). Access to the theatre hall is by stair lift over 3 steps from the first floor to hall level. A barrier-free toilet is available. A disabled parking space is available at Lilienbrunngasse 7-9, 1020 Vienna (Mon – Fri, 9:30–21:00). Distance approx. 350 metres from the entrance. Additional paid disabled parking spaces are available at the Lilienbrunngasse garage, approx. 350 metres from the entrance. Entry via Lilienbrunngasse 6-12, 1020 Vienna.
Parking Odeon
A disabled parking space is available at Lilienbrunngasse 7 – 9, 1020 Vienna (Mon – Fri 09:30 – 21:00), distance approx. 350 m from the entrance. Further disabled parking spaces are available in the Lilienbrunngasse garage, approx. 350 m from the entrance, entrance via Lilienbrunngasse 6 – 12, 1020 Vienna.
Ticket Discounts:Students, apprentices, recruits as well as conscientious objectors performing community service (under the age of 27) and people over 60
have the possibility to purchase reduced price performance tickets (approx. –15 %) online and via phone. When attending the performance, the respective proof of entitlement must be presented together with the ticket at the entrance. Discounts cannot be applied retroactively.
Wheelchair users / accompanying person
receive tickets for € 11,- each (65 % discount) for themselves and one accompanying person after making an advance reservation by phone via +43.1. 235 00 22 or by e-mail: ticketservice@impulstanz.com (no later than three days before the performance). The discount cannot be combined with other discounts or promotions.
Holders of a disability pass
People with a degree of disability of 50 % or more will receive a 65 % discount when purchasing tickets. The desired tickets can be reserved by e-mail with a scan of the disability pass: ticketservice@impulstanz.com. A discount for an accompanying person can only be granted if this person is listed on the pass. The discount cannot be combined with other discounts or promotions. When attending the performance, the respective proof of entitlement must be presented together with the ticket at the entrance.
Holders of Ö1 Club Card or Ö1 Intro Card
receive a 10 % discount on the respective price category for up to two persons per production (available online in the ticket shopping basket, after selection of seats). For productions with several performance dates, the discount only applies to one single performance date. A combination with other promotions (e.g. Early Bird Special) or discounts is not possible.
Raiffeisenbank account holders
from Vienna or Lower Austria receive a 10 % discount on the respective price category per production for up to two people via phone and online (the discount is only visible once your bookings are summarised and put into the cart). The Raiffeisenbank card must be presented at the entrance.
Please note that reductions and discounts cannot be applied retroactively or at the evening box office.
Dance and choreography: Katharina Meves, Dante Murillo, Ida Osten, Verena Herterich, Livia Khazanehdari, François-Eloi Lavignac, Hannah Timbrell, Coralie Bénard, Jackson Carroll, Cristina Commisso
Artistic direction and choreography: Chris Haring
Composition and sound concept: Andreas Berger
Lighting design and scenography: Thomas Jelinek
Company management: Cornelia Lehner
Production: Judith Thaler
Stage management: Roman Harrer
Costumes: Stefan Röhrle
Social media: Valentina Diaz
Text: Stefan Grissemann
PHACE
Manuel Alcaraz Clemente (percussion), Alexandra Dienz (double bass), Mathilde Hoursiangou (piano/keyboard), Walter Seebacher (clarinet(s)) and Roland Schueler (cello)
Artistic Director: Reinhard Fuchs
Production: Markus Bruckner
PR & Social Media: Michael Eder
Composers: Simon Steen Andersen, Alessandro Baticci, Andreas Berger, Jérôme Combier, François Sarhan and Agata Zubel