About
As members of the Berliner collective Grupo Oito, we (Natalie Riedelsheimer and Caroline Alves) came together in 2016 to create a short solo piece called Gewand to be presented in the frame of the project Oito Solos + 1, a platform created by Grupo Oito. After the repercussion caused by the piece, we decided to continue the research independently. We started a collaboration and since then we have a work/experiment-in-process called Machine to become-woman.
What is the first word coming into your mind when you think about woman?
We have been questioning what exactly creates the woman, and who? If she even exists, what are the images we relate to her? And we have found no other way to stay true to the fluctuating answers we've found, than being in a constant state of improvisation and transformation to Become-woman. Initially inspired by Deleuzian concept of Becoming, then by The Cyborg Manifesto of Donna Haraway, the experiment consists in a dialogue between words, movement and music, and between the performers and the audience.
The machine starts after we ask questions to the audience, related to the their imagination about what it is to be, to move, to behave as a woman. The answers are the starting point of the process and the fuel for the machine. Based on the words that the public throws into the machine, we enter into a state of improvisation and take everyone present in an ongoing process of becoming-woman to take a step beyond the dual attribution of masculinity and femininity one by dance, the other by music and the spectators by means of active observation.
performance history
From 2016 to 2019 we have done many different versions of our Machine to become-woman. We realized that each version we’ve made were a practical and tangible production of knowledge on the topic. It led us to get even more curious and arouse in us the wish to deepen our research into the complexity of woman representations in our contemporary society. Various versions of the Machine have been shown so far:
- 12.2019 – Puttensaal der Bibliothek am Luisenbad, Berlin
- 12.2019 - Katapult, Berlin
- 08.2019 - Lobe Block, Festival Nachbarschaft ist Kunst - Berlin
- 14.04.2019 - Projektraum AUCH - Berlin
- 25.08.2018 - Occupy Flutgraben - Flutgraben e.V, Berlin
- 08.09.2017 – Kulturlounge im Zirkuszelt der Schatzinsel, Berlin
- 24.07.2017 - Sommerwerft - International Theatre Festival Frankfurt/Main
- 23.07.2017 – Katapult, Berlin
- 01.04.2017 - Salão Transartes- Forum Brasil · Kreuzberg, Berlin
- 24.03.2017 - Unfinished Fridays Vol. 36 - Lake Studios, Berlin
- 23.10.2016 - BEGINE - Treffpunkt und Kultur für Frauen e.V., Berlin
- 01./02.07.2016 - Oito solos +1 - Mime Centrum, Kunstquartier Bethanien Berlin
Short glance at our performance Experiments
Latest experiment at Projektraum AUCH, Berlin - 14.04.2019
Experiment at Flutgraben e.V, Berlin - 25.08.2018
Experiment at Sommerwerft - International Theatre Festival Frankfurt/Main - 24.07.2017
Unfinished Fridays Vol. 36 - Lake Studios, Berlin- 24.03.2017
First experiment at Oito solos +1 - Mime Centrum, Kunstquartier Bethanien Berlin- 01./02.07.2016
Machine Team
Caroline Alves (Direction/Dance)
Caroline Alves is a dancer, teacher and director based in Berlin. Her dance education began at the age of 11 and consisted of Classical Ballet, Modern Jazz, Modern Dance, Contemporary Dance and Contact Improvisation. After high school she got selected to join the Brazilian state company Cia. de Dança Palácio das Artes. She was part of the ensemble for seven years and has worked with the most important Brazilian choreographers. She graduated in Psychology (PUC-Minas) and developed a research on "creative process in dance. She is currently part of the collective Hower and since 2013 she is part of Grupo Oito (Berlin). In our “machine to become-woman” Caroline brings her experience on improvisation and composition in dance, creating a constant moving body-scape.
Natalie Riedelsheimer (Direction/ Dance/ Music)
Natalie Riedelsheimer is a dancer and teacher based in Berlin. She studied dance and contact improvisation in Freiburg at the Bewegungs-Art school as well as at the school Ballettzentrum Armin Krain. She graduated in contemporary dance by the school Die Etage (Berlin). She has been working with different choreographers as Felix Ruckert, Ellen Davis, Kollektiv CIE4, Sven Seeger, Be van Vark. Since 2010 she is a member of Grupo Oito (Berlin). When she was a child, Natalie received musical education, having studied piano, violin and cello. In our “machine to become-woman” Natalie combines her knowledge of dance and music, creating a very unique way to become woman with her cello.
Marie Yan (Dramaturgy)
Marie Yan is an author and dramaturge for dance and theatre with an affinity for formats using improvisation. She studied literature in Paris, dramaturgy and physical theatre in Scotland. Living in Berlin since 2015, her work as a dramaturge focuses on pieces dealing with postcolonial and feminist perspectives, among which the dance piece Unrestricted Contact by Grupo Oito (Ballhaus Naunynstrasse, Berlin, 2017). Drawing inspiration from ethical and political concerns of the time, her written work ranges from theatre to poetry, often exploring motives of dystopia. Her latest play Artes Moriendi: Ways of Dying was produced in Tatwerk in 2018 (Berlin). Since September 2018 she is part of the ensemble and one of the in-house dramaturges of Theater o.N. in Berlin. She has been following the development of the Machine to become-woman since its debut in 2016.
Photos: Laurin Gutwin - Miro Wallner - Dadaware - Stefan Chytrek - Rene Leal - Zé de Paiva.
This project has been supported by: Quartiersmanagement Badstraße; Grupo Oito; Projektraum AUCH; Frauenzentrum Schokoladenfabrik e.V.; BEGINE - Treffpunkt und Kultur für Frauen e.V.; Miro Wallner (visual media); Maryvonne Riedelsheimer & Kathleen Kunath (video edition); Nora Haakh (dramaturgie assistance); Andreina Vieira (costume).