“Is it possible to give a conventional object a new meaning and a new perspective?”
—Willi Dorner, director of above under inbetween

You may never think of a chair the same way again. above under inbetween follows Cie. Willi Dorner’s popular 2008 Live Arts show bodies in urban spaces, which had audiences wandering the streets, discovering startling formations of dancers piled upon one another in strange and unexpected places. above under inbetween uses human bodies to redesign our home.

How would you act around a chair if you didn’t know it was a chair? Or a doorway? Or a banister? And what if your body were joined with these objects for an architectural building project? Like bendable, multi-jointed building materials, dancers’ bodies are stacked, folded, and fitted together to create “a new living space” constructed of human beings. Set to new music by composer Bernhard Lang, the result is a compelling, absurd, and humorous view of the ordinary.

Cie. Willi Dorner’s stage and site-specific works have been presented throughout Europe, Africa, North and South America, and China. Willi Dorner is keen on creating events that give the audience a different perception of everyday life.

Concept and Choreography: Willi Dorner Music: Bernhard Lang Stage Construction: Katharina Heistinger Audio Software: Thomas Musil, IEM/KUG Visual Interface Software: IOhannes m zmölnig, IEM/KUG Performers: Megan Bridge, Tomas Danielis, Sebastian Gec, Michael O’Connor, Åsa Odemark, Anna Reitbauer, Esther Steinkogler

“Imagine choreographer Willi Dorner is a therapist who, in his innermost personality, is a level-headed engineer. Or maybe the other way around: he is a binary code researcher fascinated by the power of the sign. In any case, it would help to imagine a person working at the interface where contradictions collide.”
—Karin Cerny, Falter Magazine

Audiences move about the venue during the performance.

Executive Producer: Robert M. Dever

Read blog articles about this show by clicking here.

Willi Dorner (concept/choreography) was born in Baden, Austria. He studied dance, dance therapy, and dance pedagogy at the Austrian Society for Dance Therapy. From 1983 until 1986, he attended the Vienna Conservatory for Music and the Performing Arts. Dorner was a member of Nina Martin’s company in New York and I.D.A. Mark Tompkins' in Paris, and began choreographing his own productions in 1990. Cie. Willi Dorner’s stage and site-specific works have been presented throughout Europe, Africa, China, and North and South America. Willi Dorner creates events that give the audience a different perception of everyday life. With photo-artist Lisa Rastl, he created FEET, a photodisplay of the most important contemporary choreographers’ feet.

Bernhard Lang (composer) was born in Linz, Austria, and studied piano, jazz piano, arranging and classical piano, philosophy and German philology, and composition. He holds a professorship in composition at the University of Music and Dramatic Arts in Graz. His main interest since 1999 is Music Theater, derived from his interpretation of the ideas of difference/repetition: Theater of Repetitions (2003), I hate Mozart (2006), and The Old Man from the Mountain (2007).

Thomas Musil (audio software development) was born in Linz, Austria and studied electrical engineering. He has worked at the Institute of Electronic Music (IEM) at the University of Music and Dramatic Arts in Graz, Austria. His programming and performance credits include Live-Electronic for Olga Neuwirth; Lost Highway 2003 Graz; ce qui arrive 2004 Vienna; Bernhard Lang: difference/repetition cycle since 2001 Donaueschingen; Peter Ablinger: IEAOV cycle since 1996 Graz; Quadratur-cycle since 2000 Donaueschingen; Gerd Kuehr: Revue instrumentale et electronique 2005 Graz; Klaus Lang: missa beati paueres spiritu 2005 Graz; Johannes Kalitzke: Bis zum aeussersten Tor 2006 Berlin; and Orestis Toufetsis: Echo Chronoi 2008 Graz.

Katharina Heistinger (stage construction) was born in Vienna and studied at the Sorbonne in Paris, the Koninklijke Academie voor Schone Kunsten in Antwerpen, and the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna. She works as an assistant for costume and stage design at the Viennese Burgtheater. Her artwork has been presented at exhibitions throughout Europe. above under inbetween is her second collaboration with Willi Dorner.

Megan Bridge (dancer) is based in Philadelphia and co-directs , a platform for her collaborative work with Peter Price. She has worked with Rennie Harris, Jérôme Bel, Carole Brown, Lenni Basso, Group Motion, and the Bald Mermaids, and has performed her own work across the world. Her two-year-old son Tristan also likes to hang out in and under furniture and is being considered for a spot in the company. Megan teaches Pilates in the Philadelphia area. www.thefidget.org

Tomas Danielis (dancer) is a Slovakian-raised dancer and student of AMDA Bratislava and of the Conservatoire J. L. Bella. Danielis has won prizes for dance and choreography in competitions such as TanzRat and the Festival of Theatre Arts in Poland, and was a finalist of Beste Deutsche Tanz Solo, choreographic miniatures. A versatile dancer, Danielis was a leading soloist with the Croatian National Theatre and a guest soloist for Ballet Graz. From 2007 to 2009, he was the art director of Festival Buhnenwerkstatt in Graz.

Sebastijan Gec (dancer) was born in Maribor, Slovenia. He was inspired to dance by his parents who sent him to ballroom dancing with a partner he hated. In 1997, he discovered Plesna Izba Maribor, where he began his professional training. He then went to Austria and remained for 3 years at the Salzburg Experimental Academy of Dance. He has shown his own work in Austria and Slovenia. In his free time he sings in karaoke bars, dresses like a transvestite, and produces his own short films.

Michael O’Connor (dancer) has spent countless hours pretending he’s Jude Law, lip-synching to Aretha Franklin, and cramming himself underneath park benches in different countries. He was listed in the 2008 BalletTanz magazine as the "dancer to watch" in Vienna for his piece a waiting dog dies. Mike has also worked with Deborah Hay, Alain Buffard, Philipp Gehmacher, Andrew Harwood, Ko Murobushi, and Superamas, among others. Since 2007, Mike has been living and working in Europe.

Åsa Odemark (dancer), a native of Stockholm, Sweden, was a student of mathematics and music until she decided to become a dancer at the age of 20. Åsa has not only danced, acted, and sung on stage, but has lived in a tent for a month without a hot shower or internet access, played paintball in the ruins of a 19th century fortress, and shared her most embarrassing moments with an audience. She first worked with Cie. Willi Dorner in 2008.

Anna Reitbauer (dancer) was born in Steyr, Upper Austria and studied at the Institute for Dance Arts at Anton Bruckner University, Linz. She was a member of the postgraduate company x.IDA. She received a scholarship at Tanzquartier Wien, moved to Vienna, and since then has worked with Oleg Soulimenko, Tanztheater Springschuh, Superamas, Compagnie Smafu, Compagnie Ex Nihilo, Renaud Doucet, Susan Oswell, and Cie. Willi Dorner.

Esther Steinkogler (dancer) was brought up in an art-loving family, and at sixteen she left home for professional dance training. She studied at the Salzburg Experimental Academy of Dance (SEAD), and after her graduation worked on her first project with Cie. Willi Dorner. She lives as a freelance artist and has worked with D.ID Liz King, presented her own work, and joined Willi Dorner again for above under inbetween.