Kinder- und Jugendtanzcompany

In regular training sessions under the guidance of experienced dancers of the company Sasha Waltz & Guests, the young dancers explore their own repertoire in physical movement as well as the interaction with one another in dance. In adition they are offered intensive workshops with guest trainers.

The »Kinder- und Jugendtanzcompany« further supports exchange with other groups of young dancers – such as the JugendTanzCompany of the Piccolo Theater in Cottbus – and seeks to do so increasingly in the future. Not least, the young dancers of the Kinder- und Jugendtanzcompany are trained in acting on stage and interacting with an audience, as they are encouraged to regularly develop and present their own stage pieces. Those are presented in annual extensive showing events at Radialsystem in Berlin.

All groups for the 2023/24 school year are full. Registration and inclusion on the waiting list are currently not possible. The next registration opportunity is in August 2024. In the meantime, please register for our newsletter.

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Contact
Émilie Guérin
Education & Community
Administration & Projektcoordination Children's and Youth Dance
+49 (0) 30 24 62 80 26
eguerin@sashawaltz.de

Sasha Waltz & Guests GmbH
Sophienstr. 3
D-10178 Berlin

Thus in 2009, the piece »Der Kleine Mann«, dealing with lifelong dreams, was created under the direction of Gabriel Galindez Cruz. In 2010, the kids dealt with the topic »Monster«, which they had chosen themselves. In 2012, a number of the young dancers participated in the project »MusicTANZ – Carmen«, involving over 100 kids from Berlin schools, choreographed by Sasha Waltz and with the Berlin Philharmonic under the direction of Sir Simon Rattle.

Often the kids’ pieces are developed in collaboration with musicians who perform live during the stagings. Thus in the production »The Wild Things« (2013) the dancing was accompanied by a chamber orchestra of four musicians who performed contemporary compositions by the japanese composer Hideki Kozura. In 2014/15, the childrens’ group developed a structured improvisation in which they collaborated with the band »Bukahara«. This project lead up to the piece »Feuerblume«, which was not only chosen for the »Tanztreffen der Jugend« (kids’ dance convention) in 2015, but also toured Oslo on the occasion of the International Conference of Teaching Artists in 2016.

Also in 2016, the Kinder- und Jugendtanzcompany created the piece »Märchensonate«, a creative reinterpretation of the fairy tales by the Brother’s Grimm, accompanied by sonatas by Claude Debussy, performed live by a string quartet and pianist. Throughout the past years the teens group – a part of which has danced and worked together for over ten years – has increasingly turned towards critical topics: with »genau so, aber anders« (2016/17) they presented their critical view of society, whilst reflecting on their role in it as teenagers. In 2017, they performed a piece based on poems by young refugees from Afghanistan as part of the Sasha Waltz & Guests project »ZUHÖREN –dritter Raum für Kunst und Politik«.​

In 2018, two pieces were developed: »Check out your mate« with the kids group (11 to 14 years), which was invited to be performed in the frame of »Tanztreffen der Jugend« at the Haus der Berliner Festspiele in 2019. The teens group in their production »Teqsi muyu marq'ay - Eine warme Umarmung für die Erde« dealt with climate change and climate justice. In 2019, the piece was invited to the festival »Rampenlichter« in Munich and was also performed in the frame of the project »Zuhören #4« by Sasha Waltz & Guests at Radialsystem in Berlin.

The pandemic also could not keep the young dancers from dancing – they first continued their training online, before meeting open air in Berlin parcs and other public spaces.

To celebrate the 15th anniversary of Sasha Waltz & Guests' children's and youth dance company, the annual showing in the Radialsystem could finally take place again in 2022, for which the children and teenagers developed a program full of diversity and creativity: The children of group 2 (9-11 years) talked about their experiences with nature during the pandemic in »Hin und zurück«. And the young dancers of groups 3 (11-14 years) and 4 (14+ years) danced together on stage for the first time and showed their version of a Sasha Walt choreography titled »In C – nächste Generation« as well as the new work »TEXERE « by Gabriel Galindez Cruz, which was also performed in an extended version in the showing of 2023.