With the performance east of what?, caner teker honours 'köçekler', young, androgynous dancers in the Ottoman Empire of the 18th century, who were also known as sex workers. From a Turkish-German perspective, 'east of what?' examines their stories as queer subjects, how they presented themselves and how they were seen. The piece interweaves sensual movement vocabulary and thus challenges sexualising and orientalising gazes. The vibration of the shimmy, a basic movement of west asian dances, creates a continuous variation that unfolds among the audience in the space. The interplay with Nazanin Noori's ambient hardcore music creates a sensory concert that draws the audience in as witnesses. In this proximity, the piece is dedicated to affinities beyond fixed identities and seeks alternate approaches to practices of memory.
With the performance east of what?, caner teker honours 'köçekler', young, androgynous dancers in the Ottoman Empire of the 18th century, who were also known as sex workers. From a Turkish-German perspective, 'east of what?' examines their stories as queer subjects, how they presented themselves and how they were seen. The piece interweaves sensual movement vocabulary and thus challenges sexualising and orientalising gazes. The vibration of the shimmy, a basic movement of west asian dances, creates a continuous variation that unfolds among the audience in the space. The interplay with Nazanin Noori's ambient hardcore music creates a sensory concert that draws the audience in as witnesses. In this proximity, the piece is dedicated to affinities beyond fixed identities and seeks alternate approaches to practices of memory.
| Choreography, performance, stage | caner teker |
| Composition, live music | Nazanin Noori |
| Lighting design, stage | Shaly Lopez |
| Costume | Olivia Ballard |
| Dramaturgy | Stanton Taylor |
| Outside Eye | Ligia Lewis |
| Artistic production | Sofie Luckhardt |
| Technical management | Hendrik Borowski |
| Outside Eye production | Martin Bien |
| Organisational collaboration | Gilles Yann Smrkovsky |
| Thanks to | Ewa Dziarnowska, Aaron Nora Scherer, Anton Schweizer |
| … |
| Production | caner teker / PARASITES PROJECTS |
| Co-production | PACT Zollverein, HAU Hebbel am Ufer |
| Funded by Kunststiftung NRW, Düsseldorf. Funded by the Ministry of Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia. Supported by NRW Landesbüro Freie Darstellende Künste e.V. Funded by Fonds Darstellende Künste with funds of the federal government commissioner for culture and media. Supported by Theaterhaus Berlin Mitte. | |
