Soul Chain

World premiere 28 October 2017, Mainz State Theatre, Germany

Running time 1 hour. No intermission.

Opening performance of the 59th Maribor Theatre Festival

Author and choreographer Sharon Eyal
Co-author Gai Behar
Composer Ori Lichtik
Costume designer Rebecca Hytting
Set and lighting designer Alon Cohen
Assistant choreographer Rebecca Hytting, Tom Weinberger
Rehearsal director Natalia Rodina
Director tanzmainz Honne Dohrmann
Production manager Lisa Besser
Collaborator of dance directorate and touring manager Hannah Meyer-Scharenberg
Assistant of dance directorate Julia Kraus
Set up stage&sound on tour Luka Curk
Set up light on tour Dominik Hager
Stage manager on tour Matthew Tusa

Cast
Elisabeth Gareis, Daria Hlinkina, Shani Licht, Cassandra Martin, Nora Monsecour, Amber Pansters, Réka Rácz, Maasa Sakano; Zachary Chant, Paul Elie, Finn Lakeberg, Christian Leveque, Frederico Longo, Jaume Luque Parellada, Cornelius Mickel, Matti Tauru, Lin Van Kaam 

Inspired by strong emotions all around love, the Soul Chain choreographer Sharon Eyal connects ballet and electro – the two very unlike phenomena – into a thrilling contemporary dance. The ballet ensemble thus becomes a swarming dance "machine", full of energy, that is reflected in an extremely challenging choreography that won the German theatre prize "Der Faust" in 2018. Even though the choreographer defines Soul Chain as a play about love and longing, one should not expect too much romance. Rather, the movements are animalistic and pure, a swarming group that moves with the highest discipline in rhythmic unison. The longer this unison lasts, the more time we have to search for the differences and can find the dancers in full intention. As the choreographer says, one can see in the homogenous structure of the One, how different we are. So here, in the contrast between the group and the individual, the choreographer expresses her love for the absolute uniqueness of each individual. After all, paradoxically as it may seem, uniqueness is the only category that is universal to us – and this, too, is ultimately a formal dance frame, in which the "Love" can take place.