Dance which speaks for itself; contemporary
and coherent, original, meaningful, communicative, gripping.
"Defying all labels and packaging, the wee dance company are out to confound and intrigue …"
Since its inception in 1999, the award-winning
wee dance company has been described as
"one of the most substantial, most versatile,
internationally most active Berliner ensembles" in contemporary dance; whilst
cleaving its own path out of line with the dictates of Berlin's off scene's curators,
Die Deutsche Bühne pointed out how
"at a distance from the fashionable,
the wee dance company has for years been developing its discrete and independent aesthetics...".
The company has toured in
over 30 cities and towns across Germany, and abroad with the support of various
Goethe Institutes and German Consulates in
16 countries,
receiving
critical and public acclaim.
Officially founded in April 1999, wee dance company operated as an independent Berlin-based company until July 2011.
From August 2011 to July 2024 it changed its residence and format, functioning during those 13 years as
the dance department of
the
Gerhart-Hauptmann-Theater Görlitz-Zittau,where
it continued to produce original dance creations as a permanent component of the theatre, as well as taking part in dozens of operas, musicals and drama productions.
The wee dance company's artistic directors have created
23 original full-evening dance pieces
(on average over 80 minutes long), 5 semi-full ones (on average 45 minutes long),
and many short pieces which have been presented amongst others in a dozen full-evening short piece evenings that the company produced. It's creations
Romeo & Juliet,
Sacre (a double bill of Stravinsky's
The Rite of Spring and Berio's
Rendering), and
Leonard Bernstein's Peter Pan
were performed with the
Neue Lausitzer Philharmonie.During
its time at the GHT the wee dance company
also performed choreographies by its artistic directors in 28 different premieres of musical theater and drama.
This oeuvre has been described by the press as
"elegant, meticulous and richly inventive, wonderfully distancing itself
from [...what] currently dominates Berlin's dance scene"
but also as
"satisfying a longing one didn't even know still existed."
It has been praised in reviews as minted with
"strength and aesthetics, emotion and beauty", as
"tightly and intensively told" and as captivating through
"suspense and grasping throughout the space", as
"transporting meaning sharp as a razor" with a
"physical verbal force, before which words pale", as
"truly excitingly imaginative", as
"such a unique sort of theatre, that one is constantly compelled to intensive perception, and may watch, contemplate and associate abundantly", and as an example of
"how casualness and quality combine in an intelligent symbiosis" and that
"at the end of the day, quality asserts itself".
In addition to the
audience award at the "20th International Choreography Competition" at the Opera House in Hannover in 2006, the wee dance company
repeatedly received
final nominations such as for the "Kurt-Joos-Förderpreis" Essen (2007), the "Ursula-Cain-Preis" (2017 & 2019), was competition finalist at the dance competition "no ballet"
in Ludwigshafen (2006 & 2007), was nominated as "Best Company 2007" for the "Dance For You Magazine" and was repeatedly commended
by the
Theatre and Music Association Görlitz.
The wee dance company has been supported several times by the
Goethe Institute and
the
Berlin Senate's department for science, research and culture and has been commissioned by
the
Literature Workshop Berlin.In
2000 the wee dance company was invited to the Podewil by the Tanzwerkstatt Berlin as "Artist in Residence".
In
2009 and
2020 the Company supported
award winners of the German Commitment Award (
'09;
'20) with an artistic entry at the award ceremony,
sponsored by the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth.
During its Berlin period the company's public relations were managed by
Ms. Heike Thierbachand
its marketing by
Mr. Marco Rosenwasser;it
was supported by the
Balance 1 Dance Academyand
the
State Ballett School Berlin,and
was sponsored by
NOXXS Logistic GmbH.
dance company