About
Shifts is an organization for art and movement
An assembly for performance which seeks to cross between media and cultures. shifts adapts its artistic team and its form of expression according to the needs of each project, and the particular subject of investigation. In this way, therefore, it creates new and continuously evolving collaborations and connections. The shifts projects are conceived and guided by Malgven Gerbes and David Brandstätter. The foundation of shifts is based on a core conviction: that constant changes of perspective, shifting balance, the modification of starting positions and external parameters are all conditions essential to a serious and ongoing examination of the art practices to which they have committed themselves. The choreographers Malgven Gerbes and David Brandstätter present performances that put the certainties and uncertainties of their work up for discus- sion. Their productions don’t attempt to resolve topics, they don’t aim to beat them into submission. Each piece zooms in on the questions that sparked Malgven Gerbes’ and David Brandstätter’s interest, a close-up that they want to present to the audience.
La Voix du Luxembourg
“Here we see new craftsmen of danced thought that will bring the field of choreography a step further’’
Malgven Gerbes – Founder
Born in France, she studied architecture in Paris in the ENSAAMA (Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Arts Appliqués et Métiers d'Arts), and worked two years as an architect in Le Bon Marché Paris (Group LVMH). She graduated in choreography in ArtEZ Arnhem (former EDDC) in the Netherlands. Malgven Gerbes choreographed and performed for group collaborative projects in Tanzhaus NRW Düsseldorf, in the Forum Freies Theater in Düsseldorf, for the Miryang Summer Festival in Korea, the Seoul Performing Arts Festival DANCE 2010 Munich, les Hivernales d'Avignon, among others. She was guest professor for one semester in the choreographic department at the Korean National University of the Arts (KNUA) in autumn 2007, in the choreographic department of ArtEZ Arnhem in spring 2008, in Dartington College of arts - UK in 2009. She regularly teaches for professional dancers in places such as Tanzfabrik Berlin, Labor Gras Berlin, Session House Tokyo.
David Brandstätter – Founder
Born in Wuppertal Germany, grew up in Frankfurt and studied applied music science in Hamburg. From the age of 15 he worked internationally as a juggler and unicyclist, and became a practitioner of traditional Japanese martial arts. In 2001, he started his studies of choreography in Arnhem at the European Dance Development Centre (now called ArtEZ). He focus his research on the development of contact improvisation as a tool for choreographic purposes. He graduated in 2005. Besides the work for s h i f t s and among other smaller works, he has organized different artistic exchange projects, and has taught at: Tanzfabrik Berlin, Fabrik Potsdam, Ernst Busch HfS, UDK-Berlin, Statdtheater Düsseldorf, ArtEZ Arnhem NL, Korean National University of Arts Seoul, Dartington College of arts - UK, Session House Tokyo, and elsewhere. from 2010 till 2013 he was a board member of ZTB Berlin an association for contemporary dance in Berlin.
Malgven Gerbes & David Brandstätter
“We get to know things, people and ideas, and we describe these meetings and interactions in movement, words, sound and images. We attempt to give our questions a form that involves, informs and touches observers and that challenges us as much as them.’’
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Collaborators
SOUND COMPOSITION Christoph Engelke, Jim Sert, Ruth Wiesenfeld | VIDEO Julien Crépieux, Christoph Lemmen, Marie Spille | DRAMATURGIC ADVISES Howard Katz, Mary O’Donnell Fulkerson, David Williams | WRITERS Chris Crickmay, Hatto Fisher, Alexandros Mistriotis, Gabriele Wittmann | LIGHT Thomas Achtner, Robin Decaux, Michael Kunitsch, Bruno Pocheron, Jens Siewert, Claire Terrien, Medhi Toutain Lopez, Ruth Waldeyer | COSTUMES Hiroaki Kanai | PHOTOGRAPHERS Caroline Ablain, Elian Bachini, Cécile Dorléans, Pascal Miet, Zara Popovichi, Cezar Zacharewicz | PR Ruth Hunsdörfer, Kathrin Schäfer | GRAPHIC DESIGN Yoann Bertrandy
performers
Caroline Allaire, Vidal Bini, Katrina Brown, Johanna Chemnitz, Katarzyna Chmielewska, Hermann Heisig, Raphael Hillebrand, Anthony Jean, Eva Karczag, Eva Kupfer, Sebastian Kurth, I Fen Lin, Makoto Matsushima, Ixchel Mendoza Hernandez, Sybille Müller, Jou Odorujoui, Elpida Orfanädou, Emilie Ouedraogo Spencer, Alan Page, Stève Paulet, Waldo Pierre, Pedro Rosa, Simone Truong, Gill Viandier, Niannian Zhou.
Press
shifts is made up of David Brandstätter and Malgven Gerbes, a German-French duo who are dedicated to very unusual pairings. Sometimes they put together that most untheatrical of ghetto dances, krumping, which came from the French banlieues, to the stages of performing arts (Krump 'N' Break-Release, 2014). Sometimes they tie the dancers’ counting skill, so usual in choreography, to a joyful game: a group of people count from 1 to 100 without the next number being spoken by more than one person; should that happen, then the game starts all over again from the beginning (Festina Lente, 2013). If a sack of rice falls over in South Korea, faraway in the West they create organised lines of its contents and fine dance craft with a broom (Notebook from 2008, still touring today). In their latest work, Air, biography, ballet and care spell out the whole palette of meaning of their “shift”: the essential constant of their life project “art in movement” is that people and things change, pairings switch, meanings slip; it is an art that can actually only be changed by movement and therefore will never be a complete work. The four women portrayed in Air show a dance as if it was watching itself. This art of permanently changing the perspective has only one disadvantage: it will never be able to be a signature feature. But it also has one priceless advantage: it is very rare that such honesty is shown on stage as it is revealed by the artist group shifts.
Arnd Wesemann - Catalogue Tanzplattform 2016
Clémence Rey
Alix Pellet
Born in Bordeaux, France, studied languages at the Université Michel de Montaigne in Bordeaux as well as Chinese, culture and international relations in INALCO in Paris. After her studies she went to China where she worked for the Alliance française of Wuhan, Hubei province, as cultural project officer in 2007 and 2008. Alix then moved to Beijing where she worked as project manager, in charge of the coordination and organisation of the Festival Croisements, a yearly multidisciplinary art festival organised by the French Embassy and covering more than 150 projects per year all over China. Since 1013, she’s been working as project manager and adviser for European - Asian projects.
Alexa Gräfe
Born in Berlin, studied Communication at the Université Paul Valéry in Montpellier as well as Management and Journalism at the Université de Bourgogne in Dijon. After her studies she worked from 2006 until 2010 as production manager for the Dance-/Theatercompany /CONSTANZA MACRAS /| DORKYPARK//(Berlin) and from 2009 till 2011 as artist manager at /Artesystem GmbH/. After she was General Manager of the schwedish Theatergroup /INSTITUTET /(Malmö/Berlin) as well as production manager for Christoph Schlingensiefs /VIA INTOLLERANZA II//for the Festspielhaus Afrika gGmbH, for witch she is still working.
Partners
Alliance Française de Shanghai, Beau Geste, Bezirksamt Tempelhof Schöneberg, BLZT Performing Arts Fonds, Café Ada Wuppertal, CCN de Tours Thomas Le Brun, CCN de Cean, Centre Culturel Coréen Paris, CHU Rouen, Cité Danse Grenoble, Collectif Danse Rennes Métropole, Conseil Général de Seine-Maritime, Dance 2010 Munich, Dartington College of Arts UK, Dartington Hall UK, Deutsches Kultur Institut Klausenburg, Dieppe Scene Nationale, DRAC Haute-Normandie, Élysée Fonds franco-allemand, EU Japan Fest Comity, Ernst Busch HfS Berlin, fabrik Potsdam, Festival Croisements, Fonds Darstellende Künste e.V., Generalkonsulat der Bundesrepublik Deutschland Shanghai, Gdansk Dance Festival, Generale Oost NL, Giesinger Bahnhof Munich, Goethe Institut Munich, Goethe Institut Paris, Goethe Institut Seoul, Goethe Institut Mexico, Goethe Institut Karachi, Goethe Institut Dublin, Goethe Institut Shanghai, Hauptstadtkulturfonds Berlin, Herbstleuchten Festival, Hogeschool voor de kunsten ArtEZ, HZT Berlin, Ikonoclaste Wuppertal, Institut Français Berlin, Institut Français Seoul, JDZB Berlin, Kahla Porzellan, Klap Marseille, Korean National University of Arts, Seoul, Kulturreferat der Landeshauptstadt München, Kunstfest Weimar, Les Hivernales d’Avignon, Le Moulin Louviers, Le Phare – CCN Haute-Normandie, Le Rive Gauche St Etienne du Rouvray, Le Triangle – Cité de la Danse Rennes, Life Legacy Project - Angela Guerreiro, Lofft Leipzig, Made In Potsdam Festival, Melkweg Amsterdam, Muffatwerk Munich, Nationales Performance Netz - NPN, Odia Normandie, Open Spaces Festival, PACT Zollverein Essen, Pôle Sud Strasbourg, Potsdamer Tanztage, Reconnaissances CDC Grenoble, Région Haute-Normandie, Réseau Labaye, Scène Nationale Evreux Louviers, Sennheiser, Session House Tokyo, Shanghai Grand Theatre, Sophiensaele Berlin, Spielmotor e.V. Munich, Südpol Luzern, Tanzfabrik Berlin, Tanzhaus NRW, Tanz Heilbronn, Tanzland Stolzenhagen, Tanznacht Berlin, Tanztage Berlin, Tanztausch Festival Cologne, Tanztendenz Munich, Festival Temps d’Images Cluj, Theater aan de Rhijn Arnhem, Théâtre des Chalands, Tours d’Horizons CCN Tours, Uferstudios Berlin, Wip Villette Paris