Situation for 10 participants

Developed in 2020-2021 during the pandemic the performance simulates the coming together of a group of people as an emergency. We misappropriate elements of a common first aid course as well as elements of other physical and mental forms of training. Two trainers guide the participants through different exercises in which collectivity and the relationship as a group are practiced in a radical way. Instead of preparing for an emergency, we meet to examine our coming together itself. We take apart gestures and positions and reassemble them anew. We explore how we are put into relation and how we could relate to each other differently. Can we rehearse the emergency?


Press

“This performance workshop, presented with admirable gravitas and seriousness and in a likeably absurd manner, is by no means the worst way to pass your time."
Martin Vögele, Mannheimer Morgen 23.6.21

"Even though the work on the performance began before the global corona pandemic, the performance and training of a collective situation could not be more timely: After a year of social and spatial distancing, the performance was a training in (re)coming together and collectivity."
PD Dr. Gerko Egert, Theater scholar 29.4.21


Dates

21 + 23/09/2022  Museum of Contemporary Art, Skopje (MKD)

14/08/2022 THEATERNATUR – Festival of Performing Arts, Benneckenstein (Radio Version)

25/06/2022 ARENA Festival, Friedrich Sponsel sports hall, Erlangen

17 + 18/04/2022 Performing Arts Forum, St. Erme (FR)

11/09/2021 Zeitzeug Festival, Car park University West, Bochum 

28/08/2021 TanzArt-ostwest Festival, Underground car park city hall, Giessen

26/06/2021 International Schillerdays, National Theater Mannheim  (Radio Version)

20/06/2021 Internationale Schillerdays, National Theater Mannheim (Online Version)

26 + 29/04/2021 Sports hall Campus Kugelberg, Giessen

25/11/2020 HTA-Festival, Frankfurt LAB (work in progress)

10/10/2020 Proposals for the Circumstances, Kultur im Zentrum Gießen (work in progress)

27/06/2020 VVIP-Festival, Frankfurt am Main (work in progress)

10/06/2020 Theatermaschine Gießen  (work in progress)

First Aid Training is a production by Felix Falczyk and Johanna Herschel in cooperation with the Institute for Applied Theater Studies with kind support by the Institute for Sports Science of Justus Liebig University Giessen. Guest performances have been made possible by Giessener Hochschulgesellschaft, ID_Tanzhaus Frankfurt Rhein-Main supported by DIEHL+RITTER/TANZPAKT RECONNECT,  funded by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media as part of the NEUSTART KULTUR - Dance Aid Programme initiative, Kontrapunkt and CRIC - Festival of Critical Culture supported by Goethe-Institut Skopje, Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Macedonia and Allianz Kulturstiftung, Creative Europe.

Reanimationstraining (Online Version)

For the International Schiller Days, we adapt the First Aid Training as a workshop film. We employ the means of a live commentary as it is used in sports broadcasts. The live commentary addresses the audience interpassively as participants of the training. The group in the video performs the exercises as stand-ins for the spectators in front of the screens.

First Aid Training (Online Version) is a production by Felix Falczyk and Johanna Herschel in cooperation with the International Schiller Days 2021/ National Theater Mannheim. Supported by the Hessian Theater Academy.

Reanimationstraining (Radio Version)

Photos: Sophia Scherer

Take your yoga mat (or whatever) and prepare for the emergency! The radio broadcast of the First Aid Training simulates the dispersed coming together of radio listeners as an emergency. No matter where you are, together and apart at the same time, practice new relationships with each other with the help of your radio! Optional training material: a ball (from any sport) and a rescue blanket (any blanket can be a rescue blanket).

First Aid Training (radio version) is a production of Felix Falczyk and Johanna Herschel in cooperation with the International Schiller Days 2021/ National Theater Mannheim. Supported by the Hessian Theater Academy.