After a break of 20 years, the Berlin dance ensemble “Skoronel”, directed by Judith Kuckart, returned in 2021 with its production “Die Erde ist gewaltig schön, doch sicher ist sie nicht” (“The earth is mighty beautiful, but it is not safe”). At 6 p.m. on Sunday, 25. September, as part of Paderborn University’s 50th anniversary celebrations, the Studiobühne staged a big-screen showing of historic film material and excerpts from the film “Posture”, which was shot by Paderborn University alumna Alice Bleistein during the rehearsals and first performances. The ensuing discussion with the choreographer and some dancers, and excerpts from the live performance, gave interesting insights into dance theatre work.
About Skoronel Dance Theatre
“Ophelia kann sein”, “Esperanza Hotel”, “Vincent fressen ihn die Raben” and “Homme Fatal” are the titles of just some of a total of 17 productions with which the Skoronel Dance Theatre toured at home and abroad in the 1980s and 1990s. They are narratives of fragmented biographies, destructive love and failed revolutions. Now Kuckart, who was a poetry lecturer at Paderborn University in the winter semester of 2006/07 and has since given several guest readings in the city, has brought some members of the company together again for an unusual reload. Under the title “Skoronel Reloaded”, the performance tells on-stage biographical stories of the protagonists and their precarious dance across the years.
Alice Bleistein, alumna of Paderborn University’s Faculty of Cultural Studies, documented the project and submitted it to the critical scrutiny of a new generation. Students have often assisted in Kuckart’s theatre projects as a result of her readings. In 2006, she was also awarded Paderborn University’s Margarete Schrader Literature Prize for her narrative work.
