
Rafi Martin & Julika Mayer (FR/DE)
The ceremony of weight
Standing firm, persevering, enduring, creating and taking up space. Rafi Martin locates these actions in the realm of martial arts and the clash of bodies. The piece traces his experiences in the Berlin boxing club Boxgirls, a club with a queer and anti-racist focus. A trio is created between Rafi Martin’s balancing body, Joachim Fleischer’s pulsating light spaces and Méryll Ampe’s driving sound composition, orchestrated by Julika Mayer.
We are immersed in a mental, physical and symbolic space. It mirrors body states and mental re-conditioning that martial arts practice entails. A ceremony of shifting weight states and weightings. A ritual of transformation. A ritual of body experience.
Rafi Martin studied Figurentheater at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Stuttgart. Under the working title “Blocken und Schlagen” (To Block and To Hit) Rafi Martin, Julika Mayer and Joachim Fleischer gave an insight into the development of the piece at the international figuren.theater.festival 2021 via livestream from the Erlangen Experimentiertheater, the final version as “The ceremony of weight” premiered in February 2022.
We are immersed in a mental, physical and symbolic space. It mirrors body states and mental re-conditioning that martial arts practice entails. A ceremony of shifting weight states and weightings. A ritual of transformation. A ritual of body experience.
Rafi Martin studied Figurentheater at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Stuttgart. Under the working title “Blocken und Schlagen” (To Block and To Hit) Rafi Martin, Julika Mayer and Joachim Fleischer gave an insight into the development of the piece at the international figuren.theater.festival 2021 via livestream from the Erlangen Experimentiertheater, the final version as “The ceremony of weight” premiered in February 2022.
Physical Theatre
Idea, Concept, Performance: Rafi Martin
Concept, Direction: Julika Mayer
Lighting, Scenography: Joachim Fleischer
Music: Méryll Ampe
Voices Boxers: Pepe aka Everlyne Odero, Rahel Barra Crowford, Makisig Akin
Double: Li Kemme
Production Tour: La poulie – Laure Woelfi & Victor Hoquet
Extract by Dorothy Allison, Zwei oder drei Dinge, die ich sicher weiß, Goldmann, 2002
Concept, Direction: Julika Mayer
Lighting, Scenography: Joachim Fleischer
Music: Méryll Ampe
Voices Boxers: Pepe aka Everlyne Odero, Rahel Barra Crowford, Makisig Akin
Double: Li Kemme
Production Tour: La poulie – Laure Woelfi & Victor Hoquet
Extract by Dorothy Allison, Zwei oder drei Dinge, die ich sicher weiß, Goldmann, 2002
Co-Produced by Festival Mondial des Théâtres de Marionnettes Charleville-Mézières, internationales figuren.theater.festival Erlangen, TJP Centre dramatique national de Strasbourg-Grand Est, BAFF! Internationales Basler Figurentheater Festival, IMAGINALE Internationales Theaterfestival animierter Formen / Funded by Fonds Transfabrik – deutsch-französischer Fonds für darstellende Künste, die Stadt Stuttgart, Fonds Darstellende Künste aus Mitteln der Beauftragten der Bundesregierung für Kultur und Medien – Programm NEUSTART KULTUR / Supported by Festival Fidena Bochum, FITZ Stuttgart, Schloss Bröllin – Produktionszentrum für darstellende Künste, Boxgirls Berlin e. V.
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© Erich Malter
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© Rafi Martin

© Rafi Martin