"Viva marginal phenomena" celebrates its 10th anniversary

Created: 09/28/2022, 11:03 am

By: Andrea Schmelzle

Viva fringe figures are (from left) Marwane Belhaimeur, studio cat Pauli, Maximilian Huber, Lydia Liedl, participant Birgit Mader, Uli Geske, Julian Pietsch and Emanuel Kasprowicz.

© Viva marginal phenomena

Landsberg - Mystical, fascinating, but also full of power and energy - as is also said of the moon with its 'mysterious rays': On the occasion of its tenth anniversary, the Landsberg association Viva Randfallen presents an audiovisual dance-theater experience: the socio-cultural, participatory project "Moonlight" can be seen four times from October 13th at the Landsberger Stadttheater.

For a total of two years, people with and without disabilities have created music, rehearsed dances and songs together in this inclusive project.

Emanuel Kasprowicz, a singer and musical actor from Eching, reveals that "Moonlight" is more of a performance than a classic theater piece.

Since 2017 he has been associated with the socio-cultural Landsberg association Viva Randfallen, which campaigns for diversity and against discrimination.

Together with Lydia Liedl, dancer, acrobat, founder of the Moving Art Studios Kaufering and also active for marginal phenomena since 2017, the Hamburg native directs.

Together with all participants and actively supported by assistant director Uli Geske, they developed the play based on an idea from founding member Maximilian Huber and Marwane Belhaimeur.

Guest roles are taken on by the dancer Anna Maria Johannes (Ellinor Holland Culture Prize winner), the musician Rebecca Winter and the actress Souhaila Amade (Netflix “Kitz”).

The project is a further development - on the one hand of the 20-minute piece "Mandragora", which received the Ellinor Holland Art Prize in 2018.

"Our idea back then was to make a whole play out of it," says Kasprowicz.

"But then came Corona".

Theater was too unsafe.

So initially something else came into being - namely the inclusive radio play "The Shining Carpet" (the KREISBOTE reported), which in turn formed the cornerstone for "Moonlight" - this is where the music was developed.

Many actors who were also in "The Shining Carpet" are also in "Moonlight".

cooperation

Then as now, Lebenshilfe Landsberg was brought on board, along with the Moving Art Studios, one of several cooperation partners.

Five of the 25 participants come from living groups run by Lebenshilfe.

It's about participation, inclusion, about the development of a community, says Liedl.

Everyone who was interested - every man, every woman and "everything in between" - should be able to participate and take part in the workshops.

They started in May of this year - in the areas of dance and acrobatics as well as staging and singing.

Everyone was able to get involved with what they bring with them and what they can do, but also with their own ideas.

Again and again, the themes of Viva Marginal Phenomena revolve around sexual orientation, identity, psychological problems - exclusion and overcoming it, finding oneself, gaining self-acceptance and self-love.

"Finding the strength to accept myself as I am makes me a strong individual," explains Kasprowicz.

The way and process to get there – that is also the subject of this piece.

It is an empowerment project, strengthens the participants, some of whom would otherwise not have found access to the theater stage.

Everyone could try.

The piece benefits immensely from this.

In this way, it has "an incredible number of facets that would not have arisen if we had developed it alone."

Of course, such an inclusive project must also be professionally managed and accompanied.

"The participants should feel safe - we create the framework for that," says Liedl.

"We pull together all the threads." The trio of Kasprowicz, Liedl and Geske is supported by three social workers.

In this way, the whole thing is not only given an artistic, but also an educational framework.

The theme is implemented mystically.

"We don't show the exclusion in the playground, but have created our own world for it," says Liedl.

"Moonlight" is purely audiovisual theater, there are no dialogues, reveals Kasprowicz.

The focus is on the music with its lyrics, which are all the more meaningful for it, the mystical beings and their costumes, Mandragora - the fascinating creature with the deer antlers (played by Kasprowicz himself) or the oracle (Geske) -, the dance, with aerial acrobatics elements (Liedl) and performers who no longer touch the ground.

A core element is the veil, which is gradually dissolved in order to show self-discovery: the true self is shown and lived.

According to Kasprowicz, the piece is aimed at the images that can be seen and what they trigger in each individual.

Everything about “Moonlight” is “homemade”, explains Liedl.

Not only the costumes, but also the music – from the text to the composition.

“Everything you see and hear is from our pen, from our hands, from our heart.” The focus is not on striving for perfection or even an evaluation.

It has to be seen holistically.

"The participants are not professionals," says Kasprowicz.

But everyone gave 100 percent, got involved with enthusiasm and vigour, and in some cases surpassed themselves.

That alone deserves applause, said Kasprowicz.