“Virtuosic and explosive”
Rhein Main Verlag, 24 February 2023
“Particularly lovely and sensually sensible: the performance is exclusively about play — it is in fact a game itself… What’s wonderful about this company is that they take everything seriously, without being quite too serious about it. Everything somehow seems spontaneous and effortlessly stitched together – an achievement of great stagecraft.”
Richard Peter, Dewezet, 24 March 2022
Gaming is a thread that connects many of Joshua Monten’s previous work. To play means to destroy and create, to flirt with danger, to release one’s animal energies, to experience the thrills of domination and being dominated. In “Game Theory,” Monten looks a bit more deeply at some of the building blocks of play: freedom and rules, ritual and surprise, adrenaline and flow.
“Game Theory” focuses on the spontaneous beauty of movements that arise in the flow of an intensely played game. Such movements are often characterized by fluid virtuosity, un-selfconsciousness and intuition, and the emotions triggered by intense play. Monten manipulates and re-forms these raw and messy ingredients into complex and deterministic structures. The result is an aesthetically rigorous composition with ample room for freedom and joy.
Joshua Monten Dance Company
The Swiss-American choreographer and dancer Joshua Monten was born near New York City. He studied literature and cultural anthropology at Duke University before discovering dance at the relatively late age of 20.
As a dancer he performed with Bern Ballett, Stadttheater Heidelberg and Öff Öff Aerial Productions. He has worked with choreographers such as Stijn Celis, Hofesh Shechter, Irina Pauls und Tino Sehgal.
In 2012 Joshua Monten founded his own dance company. The Joshua Monten Dance Company has subsequently given hundreds performances at festivals and theaters around the world, including Théâtre de la Ville in Paris, Hivernales d’Avignon, Chalon dans la rue, Swiss Contemporary Dance Days, Krokusfestival Hasselt, Festival de Chassepierre, Sibiu International Theatre Festival, Ramallah Dance Festival in Palestine, CIFCET Festival in Cairo, Festival de Danza Nueva in Lima, Queer New York International Arts Festival, Shanghai Contemporary Dance Center, the Esplanade Theatre in Singapore and the Sydney Opera House.
Choreography: Joshua Monten
Dance: David Pallant, Frederik Kaijser, Katharina Ludwig, Hannah Thomas, Jack Wignall
Dramaturgy: Guy Cools
Costume Design: Catherine Voeffray
Lighting Design: Jonas Bühler
Technical Director on Tour: Zara Bowen
Produced by Verein Tough Love
Co-Produced by Dampfzentrale Bern,Krokusfestival Hasselt
Supported by Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia,Kultur Stadt Bern,SWISSLOS / Culture Canton de Berne,Loterie Romande / Corodis
*Workshop with Hannah Thomas from Joshua Monten Dance Company on 25th May (Saturday) is available after the show!
Duration: 90 mins
Age Recommendation: 8+
Tme: 25th May @ 15:30-17:00
Location: YOUNG theatre
Language: English