Translating Theater

Coming in on the home stretch of my 3.5th season at the state theater, and it's got me thinking back and forward at the same time. I was out running this morning in the fields at the foot of the Bergpark and there were some kids on their bikes a bit down the path in front of me. On the right was a small field with horses and on the left, tall hedges and trees. I could see the helmets clearly, but the kids themselves were at that exact distance from me that, for a split second as I ran in their direction, I could not make out if they were moving toward me or away.

Next week we have our last premiere of the season, which is an evening of our own - the dancers' - work. After that, there're a few rehearsals for next season's productions and a few last performances, but mostly it's time to wrap this up and head for the hills for six weeks. There are times as a dancer when it feels like all I do is create things that disappear. Where are the traces of the performances from the past ten months? From last season? From my first performances of johannes's work five years ago in New York, or my first dance recital when I was a lion in The Carnival of the Animals for that matter? There are days I wonder what I have been doing for the last 23 years. Days when my body and a vague sense of what the poet Frank O'Hara calls "the memory of my feelings" are all that remain. And, of course, there are days when I realize it's much more than that. A way of living, a way of seeing the world, a way of resisting, a way of saying yes or no, a way of praying.

The actor E. Kiel is one of my favorites at the theater. The text that follows was the answer he gave when asked about the place of theater in our society.

Theater is political opposition. We do the opposite of what the world otherwise tells us to: it's not about money, it's not about logic, not about speed. We care about ideas even when they have no economic value. We put both halves of the brain to use. We remember that humans are emotional beings. That we are vulnerable. That there are solutions other than logic. That we can listen with intelligence. That what we hear is not what we would have thought. That we are allowed to be lovers. That we are allowed to get lost. That we are allowed to lose. And to always have to start over again at zero. All of that is theater for me. That is our work. That is our pleasure.

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Theater ist politische Opposition. Wir machen das Gegenteil von dem, was sonst in der Welt angesagt ist: Es geht nicht um Geld, es geht nicht um Logik, nicht um Schnelligkeit. Wir kümmern uns um Gedanken, auch wenn sie nicht ökonomisch werwertbar sind. Wir bedienen beide Gehirnhälften. Wir erinnern daran, dass Menschen emotionale Wesen sind. Dass wir angreifbar sind. Dass es andere Lösungen als logische gibt. Dass wir mit Intelligenz zuhören können. Dass das, was wir hören, nicht das ist, was gedacht wird. Dass wir Liebende sein dürfen. Dass wir uns verlieren dürfen. Dass wir verlieren dürfen. Und immer wieder bei Null anfangen müssen. Das alles ist für mich Theater. Das ist unsere Arbeit. Das ist unser Vergnügen.