Schritte verfolgen - Reconstruction 2007

Last season, Susanne Linke, one of the pioneers of German dance theatre, appeared at the Kaaitheater with Im Bade wannen, a dance solo from 1980. She danced it herself and thereby added a layer to the work: an aging body that recalls movements long past. This gave the performance an unusual beauty and fragility.

Linke conceived Schritte verfolgen in 1985, together with the choreographer and artist VA Wölfl. She considers it to be her artistic credo. In this autobiographical solo she returns to experiences from her childhood: as a result of illness, she only started learning to hear and speak at the age of six, so movements and gestures were her first means of expression. In this choreographic piece she marks out the small steps by which a personality is filled out. She reveals a part of her history, without revealing herself: the beauty and precision of the dance intensify and transcend the autobiographical component.

This second reconstruction, which Linke performs with three female dancers, is also given extra import: the process of aging, reaching maturity, and the joyful confirmation of the desire to ‘be’ at every stage of life.