Creation
I work as a performer with a special curiosity towards work that installs movement in various environments.
I oscillate between choreographed and improvised work.
My preferred materials are light, glass, water and the body.
Some thoughts...
How to install movement?
This new orientation in my approach to choreography comes from the BA course in Fine Arts and Dance at Brighton University, which was conceived by Liz Agiss. I never took the course, but the conversations I had with her while living in Brighton changed everything for me in terms of how I worked.
Another profound inspiration came from working with Lisa Nelson's Tuning Scores.
I was fortunate enough to be invited by former Image Lab members Charlie Morrisey, KJ Holmes and Scott Smith to spend three years doing research called "body of truth" in Brighton.
And finally to work with Lisa Nelson herself.
Next Performance
"Option Factory" a head cinema, a physical act, a concert, negotiated between 5 performers and a musician.
The central question for me was always: How can I approach this creatively? The creative act is even more important than any result. My works are far and few compared to the delight I have found in developing numerous strategies and processes for creative work.
I feel most comfortable in collaborative processes - and most challenged.
I worked with lighting designer Daniela Zehnder for several years and treated light as a partner. Then several years with the Physical Actor Thomas Mettler around the question of how to perform gravity-based partner work.
In India I discovered glass and water as transparent media through which one can see and experience movement, how to install the gesture.
After living and working in India for several years, I found myself with some relief and a fresh perspective in Europe, where I was able to work again in the context and discourse that had shaped me as an adult and artist.
Since then I have been working with my wife Sunita Asnani. We are interested in blurring the roles of performer and audience and creating participatory performance/workshop hybrids to transfer art processes into new and relevant contexts. Read more here
Some Performances
You can watch moving images on my Vimeo channel
Choreography / Works Presented
2023 Option Factory, in Bern, 50 min., 5 dancers, 1 musician
2022 Vision Cabin 1h, Bern, 10 dancers, 1 Musician
2019 How to make a monster 20 min, Bern, with Liz Waterhouse
2012 - 2018 Table Conversations, Parts 2 and 3 1 1/2 hrs Bern, Munich, Salzburg, with Sunita Asnani and Sandra Chatterjee
2019 Social Dreaming, a dream laboratory. Bern, 3 hrs, with Sunita Asnani
2017 Looking Glass, 30 min, sitespecific, Basel, with Sunita Asnani
2014 Visions of Ian Waterman, 2 parts, 2 hrs, with Victoria Hauke, Kampnagel, Hamburg, Germany
2012 A table conversation , 15 min. ,duet with Sunita Asnani, Delhi, India, Chiang Mai, Thailand, Düsseldorf D
2012 Dialog without title, 40 min., duet with Sandra Chatterjee, Munich, Germany
2011 Shimmer1 hr., Site specific light- and water installation with butoh dancers, Delhi, India
2010 Solo, 1 hr., a duet with Sunitha K in a light installation, "Alliance Francaise", "Shrishti", Bangalore, India
2009 Installing the gesture, 45 min, site specific work, "Jaaga", Bangalore, India
2009 30 grey shades, 20 min., site specific work, "F and B", Bangalore, India
2001-07 Fool, solo, 15-40 min., Switzerland, Germany, India, France
1999 Un-do, 1 hr.,Solo in a Light installation by Daniela Zehnder, "Tanzhaus Wasserwerk", Zurich Switzerland
1998 Duet, 20 min, Orma Productions, Zurich Switzerland
1998 Raven, 15 min.,duet, "Tanzhaus Wasserwerk", Zurich (sivig) Switzerland
1997 No Sleep, 20 min., duet, Dance X-change, Birmingham, UK
1997 Until, 20 min., duet, "Place Theatre", London, UK, Germany
1996 Waltzing Mathilda, 10 min., duet, Birmingham, London, UK, Germany, Austria
1995 In the black sand1 1/2 hrs., Würtemberg State Theatre, Stuttgart, Germany
C0-Creations
2009 Wind dance, duet by Michel Casanovas, Bangalore. India
2009 Jaaga through a dancers (I) Eye site specific performance with Deepak Kurki, Bangalore IND
2004 RooftopAttakkalari Biennial, Site specific work "Zero Gravity", Bangalore, India
2003 City Tags, Site specific work, with Daniela Zehnder, "Tanzhaus Wasserwerk", Zurich, Switzerland
1998 Duor by Lior Lev, Stuttgart, Tel Aviv, Israel
performance experience
Ballet
1987 - 95 Stuttgart Ballet, Marcia Haydee, soloist in 1991, solo creations, lead roles, repertoire and new work by Jiri Kylian, William Forsythe, Maurice Bejart, Mats Ek, John Neumeier and many others
1985 - 87 Zurich Ballet, Uwe Scholz, soloist, dancing mainly in creations of Scholz
1981 - 85 Hamburg Ballet, John Neumeier, soloist in 1984, dancing mainly in work and creations of Neumeier, but also Balanchine, Cranko, Bejart and others
improvisational work
2020 Tuning Scores, Zurich, with the members of "Tuning Research Group Bern", organized by Angela Stoecklin
2019 Passing through the city, Bern, dance festival, initiated by me, organized by Irene Andreotto, facilitated by Vittorio Bertoli and joined by "La Manifacture" Lausanne
2011 Participant in "RRR", an international improvisation project, Bern, CH
2011 Cantine mobile 20 min., duet with Sunita Asnani, Biel, CH
2007 Encountercraft, 40 min, with "Sapphire Creations", dance company Kolkata and international dance artists at "Max Mueller Bhavan", Kolkata, "Goethe Centre "Hyderabad, India
2005 Performance 1 hr., with Kirstie Simson," Laban Centre", London, UK
Improvisation on camera Kirstie Simson, Katharina Mcpherson, "Casina settarte", Italy
2004 Stone walk and Five men dancingImprovisation project, research and performances initiated by Adam Benjamin and Thomas Mettler, with Jordi Cortez, Rick Nodine, "Dampfzentrale", Bern, Switzerland
2003-05 Body of Truth, Research and performances, Charlie Morissey, Scott Smith, KJ Holmes, Kate Brown, Henry Montes, London and Brighton, UK
Awards/ Commissions / Grants
2015 Choreolab Steam Centre Bern
2004 3 month residency at "Attakkallari Centre For Moving Arts", Bangalore, India, grant by South East Arts, Brighton, a national dance agency, British Arts Council, UK
1998 awarded the choreographic mentored lab "SiWic", Tanzhaus Wasserwerk, Zurich, led by Rui Horta
1996-98 Artist in residence at "Dance X-change" Birmingham, UK, several commissions
1996 and 1997 "Mentored Labs", selected by Peter Boneham, "The Lab" Ottawa, Canada, to be mentored at "Dance X-change", a national dance agency, Birmingham, UK
As independent artist
2015 Tabula Rasa by Anna Huber, Tram Depot, Bern Switzerland
2011 And then I wake up, by Victoria Hauke, "Kampnagelfabrik", Hamburg, Germany
2005/6 Essence by Fin Walker, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, London, UK
2003/4 Man dancing by Lior Lev, Stuttgart, Germany and Bangalore, India
1981 Tis a pity she's a whore by William Forsythe invited to join a cast of five dancers by William Forsythe, music Thomas Jahn, Copenhagen, Denmark and Stuttgart, Opera House, Germany
Mentoring
2011 Mentor at choreographic residency, "Gati Summer Residency", Delhi, India
2004 Facilitator, mentor at "Facets", international choreo-lab organized by Attakkalari in Whitefield, Bangalore, India