Allee der Kosmonauten

Sasha Waltz

In 1996, the premiere of »Allee der Kosmonauten« was the very first production at the Sophiensæle. Since then, its choreographic approach has become legendary: the events of the piece center on the living room couch of a high-rise apartment in the Berlin suburb of Marzahn. Within this confined space, the feelings and movements of three generations of a Berlin family build up dangerously. The inhabitants bury their feelings in lethargy or abandon themselves to feedback loops caused by cramped living conditions. The choreographic encounter with this anxious space, crowded and colliding, triggers solutions at the limit of danceability. The lack of tenderness gives rise to uncomfortable comedy. »Allee der Kosmonauten« is one of a number of early Sasha Waltz projects which explore everyday worlds as spaces for dance interpretation. Created at the cusp of a new epoch, the piece recounts an era of living together without escape routes.