Dates & Tickets 

Photo: Julian Baumann

MK:

Balau

Dance theatre by Serge Aimé Coulibaly (Faso Danse Théâtre) with texts by Fiston Mwanza Mujila

 Therese-Giehse-Halle
 World premiere
 Premiere: 12.10.2024
 1 hour 10 minutes
 Strobe effect
 Thu-Sat: 15-45€, Sun-Wed: 10-40€, under 30 years each seat category: 10€
 Therese-Giehse-Halle
 World premiere
 Premiere: 12.10.2024
 1 hour 10 minutes
 Strobe effect
 Thu-Sat: 15-45€, Sun-Wed: 10-40€, under 30 years each seat category: 10€

A night in which joy and lamentation lie close together.

Serge Aimé Coulibaly is known for his expressive, energetic dance language which allows bodies and gestures to become immediately political. In “Balau”, a group of highly contrasting people live through a night and a day and experience events both beautiful and brutal that are completely unforeseen in the here and now of our complex world: weddings are celebrated; disasters unfold; lamentations are expressed. The astonishment, joy and grief arising in reaction to such events are referred to as “Balau” in the West African language of Dioula. For this performance, five actors from the Münchner Kammerspiele ensemble and three dancers come together in a community of fate formed of expressive bodies with the rhythmic language of Fiston Mwanza Mujila on their lips.

Following his celebrated dance guest performance “C la vie”, and having co-directed “Les statues rêvent aussi. Vision einer Rückkehr”, Coulibaly is now developing his first dance theatre piece for a German public theatre. The internationally acclaimed choreographer began his career as a dancer with Alain Platel and works and lives in both Burkina Faso and Belgium. For “Balau”, he is collaborating for the first time with the award-winning Congolese-Austrian writer Fiston Mwanza Mujila who is creating a new long-form poem for this work.

“I try to resist the usual ways of thinking and see things differently, partake in different perspectives and tell the story from the lion’s rather than the hunter’s point of view.”

– Serge Aimé Coulibaly, choreographer

  • Assistant to the choreographer Ahmed Soura
  • Assistant to the director Malene Pastor
  • Collaboration Costume Rafael Hinz
  • Assistant to the Stage Designer Katharina Quandt
  • Inspection Stefanie Rendtorff
  • Stage Design Intern Eloise Kent
  • Dramaturgy Intern Mete Balyan
  • Artistic Production Manager Victoria Fischer
  • Technical production management Carolin Husemann
  • Stage master Thomas Graml
  • Stage Machinery Michael Preusser, Manuel Weber
  • Lighting Michael Barth, Christian Mahrla
  • Sound Quirin Schacherl, Ulrich Treutwein, Korbinian Wegler
  • Make-Up Elvira Liesenfeld, Mai Strahtmann
  • Costumes Bernd Canavan, Marija Ruzic
  • Props Heidemarie Sänger
  • Decorations Anja Gebauer, Tim Hagemeyer, Maria Hörger, Lisann Öttl
  • Scenic Painting Evi Eschenbach, Ingrid Weindl
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Digitale Einführung
Digitale Einführung
André Benndorff has a thin, white tulle scarf over his face. His head is slightly tilted back.

Learn more about the production “Balau” here!

Serge Aimé Coulibaly at a construction site.

A project by Serge Aimé Coulibaly

Serge Aimé Coulibaly collects donations for the expansion of the choreographic center ANKATA in Bobo Dioulasso. Read more here!

Press reviews

“You totally sympathize with the whole evening.”

Deutschlandfunk • 13.10.24

“This is great art.”

Süddeutsche Zeitung • 16.10.24

“Playfully strong.”

Abendzeitung • 16.10.24
Dates & Tickets
Fri 15.11. 8 pm
Sat 16.11. 8 pm
With sign language interpretation
Balau
  • Therese-Giehse-Halle
  • World premiere
  • Premiere: 12.10.2024
  • 1 hour 10 minutes
  • Strobe effect
  • Thu-Sat: 15-45€, Sun-Wed: 10-40€, under 30 years each seat category: 10€