Choreography: Jefta van Dinther / Creation & performance: Rita Mazza, Dawn Jani Birley, Lukas Malkowski / Costumes & stage: Cristina Nyffeler / Lighting design: Jonatan Winbo / Sound design: David Kiers, including ”Run for Your Life (feat. La Chat)” by Clipping, “Cangilón” by Nicolás Jaar and “Momentaries” by Bjarni Gunnarsson / Backdrop surface: Gonçalo Sena / Dramaturgy: Gabriel Smeets / Artistic advice: Maja Zimmermann / Rehearsal director: Tomislav Feller / Technical direction: Andrea Parolin & Fabian Bleisch / Light: Fabian Bleisch / Sound: Andrea Parolin / Management: Sven Neumann / Distribution: Sarah De Ganck, ART HAPPENS / Production management: Uta Engel & Romy Hansford-Gerber / Financial management: transmissions GmbH (DE) & Interim kultur AB (SE)
How do bodies speak, and what is visual language? “Mercury Rising” explores the volatile terrain between sign language, gesture and meaning, where movement becomes language and vice versa. A phenomenological journey through communication that transcends the literal, inviting all audiences into a paradigm-shifting experience.
“Mercury Rising” emerges from a phenomenological excavation of language. Created in collaboration with and performed by Dawn Jani Birley, Rita Mazza, and Lukas Malkowski, the performance charts both ancient and future non-linear languages, navigating the terrain between communication, gesture, agency, and physicality. “Mercury Rising” positions the body as a volatile site of discourse – a place where meaning is made, unmade, and transformed through movement. While inviting its audience to decipher an abundance of signs, the work also explores the slippery nature of interpretation and ultimately releases us from the need for the literal or the explanatory. Incorporating multiple sign languages, and created for all audiences – including Deaf and hearing audiences – Mercury Rising addresses the complexity of human communication on the brink of a paradigm shift. What we share, in the end, is not certainty, but the impossibility of full understanding, and the urge to connect nonetheless.
Cast
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Dates
Past
Further Information
Visitor note
Notes:
The performance includes German Sign Language, American Sign Language, Italian Sign Language, Finnish Sign Language, and several others.
Credits
Production: Jefta van Dinther. Co-production: HAU Hebbel am Ufer, Norrlandsoperan Umeå, Cndc – Angers (Accueil Studio), Dansens Hus Stockholm, Dansnät Sverige, PACT Zollverein Essen, CNDC Angers. Funded by: Berlin Senate Department for Culture and Social Cohesion, Fonds Darstellende Künste. Jefta van Dinther is funded by the Berlin Senate Department for Culture and Social Cohesion and the Swedish Arts Council.
Location
HAU2
Hallesches Ufer 34, 10963 BerlinThere are two marked parking spots in front of the building. Barrier-free restroom facilities are available. Four relaxed seats are available in the first row of HAU2.
