The dance theatre piece "Kim" is based on the novel " Wo auch immer ihr seid" by the award-winning Berlin journalist Khuê Pham, who deals with the effects of the Vietnam War (or the "American War", as it is called in Vietnam) and the associated dispersion of her own family to several continents."Kim" stands for the neutral German name that the book's protagonist gives herself in order to avoid the constant questions about the pronunciation of her Vietnamese name and her "real" origins.
Against the backdrop of the book's story, the German-Taiwanese choreographer Fang Yun Lo, together with Khuê Pham and five dancers, all of whom have intercultural experience, explores the protracted search for identity among young people from immigrant families.
In a mixture of dance, literature and film, they ask questions that affect everyone: What has made me the person I am today? Who are our parents - and who am I? How do historical catastrophes and wars affect the lives of entire generations?
Hip-hop meets ballet and contemporary dance, documentary images merge with literary texts and the stage set is constantly changing. The dancers take on the roles of the book in turn, but also tell their own stories and those of their families, especially their parents. These stories condense many things into a compact form - they tell of people, love, home and war.
The result is a moving panorama - from the time before the war in Vietnam in the 1950s and 1960s, through the connections with East as well as West Germany and the USA, to the most recent experiences in Ukraine, where families of Vietnamese descent are once again having to flee.
direction, choreography |
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creation, performer |
Kati Masami Menze David Le Thai Ta Vu Kha Chanh Nam Tran Xuan |
text |
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video, film direction, stage camera |
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stage design |
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music |
music David Le Thai |
additional music |
Patrik Zosso |
dramaturgy |
Betty Yi-Chun Chen |
production management |
Sabina Stücker |
light design, technical lead |
Max Rux |
production |
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coproduced by |
HELLERAU Europäisches Zentrum der Künste |
costume |