VOR.ORT strengthens creative connections in rural Brandenburg
As part of the VOR.ORT residency organized by »Ponderosa e.V.« within the framework of »tanz weit draußen«, two local dance professionals from rural Brandenburg are invited to participate in an intensive three-day exchange with another person. The aim is to provide new impetus for their own artistic, curatorial, and educational work and to highlight dance as a connecting element in rural areas. Dance artists and educators often face particular challenges in rural areas: a lack of infrastructure, limited opportunities for exchange, and less visibility make their work more difficult. The VOR.ORT residency deliberately creates space for networking, shared practice, and open encounters—thus making dance a driving force for creative development and a vibrant cultural scene in the region.
Format and goals
The residency combines two three-day studio sessions for a tandem of local and invited dance professionals. The residency concludes with an action day in September. The focus is on networking, artistic practice, and peer-to-peer learning. This creates an inspiring space for collective reflection and sustainable further education.
The participants
DUO 1: Yasmin Schönmann (Stolzenhagen) and Rodolfo Piazza Pfitscher da Silva | June 23-25, 2025
Yasmin Schönmann (Stolzenhagen) is a dance artist who has been working as a dancer, choreographer, and dance teacher for 12 years. The aim of her work is to interpret socio-political issues through dance and to attract a new audience for contemporary dance, especially in rural areas. She meets Rodolfo Piazza Pfitscher da Silva, a freelance dance artist, performer, and choreographer. He lives in Berlin and Brandenburg, where he collaborates with a diverse range of interdisciplinary artists from the fields of dance, music, and theater in Germany and Europe.
DUO 2: Thomas Skupy (Parsteinsee) and Irina Pauls | September 11-13, 2025
Thomas Skupy (Parsteinsee) has been working as a freelance dance teacher and artist in Brandenburg since 2006, and has been teaching at the Schwedt/Oder School of Music and Art since 2016. His residency in September 2025 will see a reunion with choreographer and dance educator Irina Pauls, in whose ensemble he danced in Heidelberg and Freiburg from 2002 onwards. Irina Pauls, in whose ensemble he danced in Heidelberg and Freiburg from 2002 onwards. Irina Pauls founded the TanzTheater am Schauspiel Leipzig in 1990, worked as ballet director and department head at several German theaters, and is now internationally active as a freelance choreographer and director with over 90 works of her own.
Dance meets cuisine – eventful biographies and a shared dinner
To conclude the VOR.ORT residency format with Thomas Skupy and Irina Pauls, we cordially invite to the event “Dance meets cuisine” on September 13 in cooperation with Dorfleben Parsteinsee e.V. The former dance hall in Lüdersdorf will open its doors and be transformed into a place of storytelling, cooking, and celebration for this evening: the art of culinary preparation will be combined with the lived stories of the dancers and choreographers who have been working together for many years. This unusual experiment is reminiscent of a cooking show – while the ingredients and cooking instructions are analyzed in detail, improvised and choreographed movement sequences emerge. Biographical fragments, anecdotes, and artistic experiences are woven together into a culinary performance close to the audience, in which bodies, stories, and local potatoes are given equal space. After the cooking show, the (hopefully delicious) meal is shared with the audience – accompanied by drinks, music, and hopefully even more dance encounters.
Location: Dorfstraße 28 (entrance via the courtyard), 16248 Lüdersdorf Date: Saturday, September 13, 2025, 6:00 p.m. By and with: Thomas Skupy and Irina Pauls and guests Rodolfo Piazza Pfitscher Da Silva, Yasmin Schönmann, and Marco Volta Free admission!
Due to limited seating, we ask that you register in advance at dorfleben.parsteinsee@gmx.de or online at https://dorfleben-parsteinsee.de/termine/tanz-trifft-kueche/
VOR.ORT in Werder | June 19 to 21, 25
ZUKUNFTSLABOR Kunstquartier I A new place for art & cultural education in the making – June 19 to 21, 2025
Dance I Performance I Theater I Music I Media Art I Digital Art I Immersive Art
Initiated by TANZWERK Werder und »tanz weit draußen«, Eva Burghardt and Laura Heinecke, in cooperation with Joh Weisgerber and Anna von Hammerstein from Schaltgeraete Studios, invite you to the 3-day ZUKUNFTSLABOR as part of the VOR.ORT event series. Together with artists from Werder and the region, visions for a community-supported art quarter at Eisenbahnstr. 73 in Werder (Havel) will be developed. Building on the existing structures, the aim is to create an interdisciplinary art and meeting place for dance, performance, theater, music and media art.
During the ZUKUNFTSLABOR, there will be practical and theoretical impulses for interested cultural actors in the form of site tours, workshops and impulse lectures on the topics of »Principles of Commoning«, »Dance & Society” as well as space and time for visioning, idea development and concrete planning. The program includes a cultural offer in the form of a participatory walk with the »Sudden Starlings Collective«, the dance performance HERTZ / »Laura Heinecke & Company« and a concert by »Haze & Lux«. Interested people from the surrounding area and neighborhood are cordially invited to participate – also in individual program items.
Program
THURSDAY, June 19, 2025
10:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. OPENING
Introductions | Wishes | Needs, including an initial tour of the location
1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. Lunch
Delicious food from Biohof Werder – vegetarian, tasty, filling.
2:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. “THE POLITICS OF MUTUALITY” Workshop with Heike Pourian
“The Politics of Mutuality” – this is how Steve Paxton, pioneer of contact improvisation, aptly summarized the political dimension of this revolutionary movement in the world of dance. What can we learn from this dance culture and apply to concrete action? … for democratic capacity and economic transformation as well as for our responsibility to joyfully shape society?
Lecture. Try it out. Reflect. Spin it further.
Heike Pourian, dancer and change researcher, author of the books A TOUCHABLE WORLD. CONTACT IMPROVISATION AS A SOCIETY-CHANGING CULTURE (2016) and WHEN WE PERCEIVE AGAIN. WACH UND SPÜREND DEN KRISEN UNSERER ZEIT BEGEGNEN (2021), CO-FOUNDER OF Wegwarte, a learning and research space for perceptive social design and caring economics. WWW.BERUEHRBAREWELT.DE | www.wahrnehmen.org | www.wegwarte.haus
4:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. Exchange
7:00 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. Encounter in Motion | Dance Up Your Mind | Workshop with Eva Burghardt
This regular course opens its doors and invites all interested parties to participate! Here you can gain an insight into dance improvisation, discover and expand your own means of expression and creativity. Presence and body awareness form the starting point for the joint exploration of space, time, dynamics, and power. Dances arise from the moment – delicate or powerful, expansive or small, fast or slow – as solos or in interaction with a partner or the group. We want to devote ourselves seriously to playing and explore the balance between freedom and commitment. Where does dance begin – and how can I surprise myself?
Eva Burghardt is a freelance dancer, choreographer, and dance educator. She has been living and dancing in Werder an der Havel since 2020. Together with amateurs and professionals of all ages, she has been creating dance performance projects for over 15 years, giving interdisciplinary workshops, and teaching dance with a focus on improvisation and instant composition. “It is very important to me to share and develop my experience and expertise here locally and to enable new approaches to art and culture for all interested parties.” TANZwerk Eva Burghardt
FRIDAY I June 20, 2025
2:30 p.m. OPENING
Arrival, check-in …
3:00 p.m. Input “Principles of Commoning”
People organize themselves on an equal footing in order to get along well with each other and to produce useful things for themselves and others in a self-determined manner. The participants decide jointly and responsibly what they need and how they manage, organize, and distribute assets (resources, time, and space).
Trust is the key to this. However, it cannot be taken for granted, but arises through action. Commoning requires, on the one hand, an attitude that grants trust without being gullible and, on the other hand, actions that actively promote trust. The patterns of commoning support both.
The term itself is now widely used internationally. It goes back to the English word “commons,” which is often translated into German as ‘Allmende’ or “Gemeingut.”
Laura Heinecke reports on her first experiences with the principles of commoning, which she was able to gain in the fall of 2024 at the Commons Summer School. She has brought along the 34 cards of the Commons Pattern Language and uses them to provide an overview of its diverse uses. commons Institute / commons summer school
With delicious cake from Biohof Werder and drinks, you can relax and unwind, browse through the books and rooms, get to know people, and write down your wishes, express them, and/or share your visions for this place.
5:00 p.m. Participatory walk | Exploring the area with the Sudden Starlings Collective
Eva Burghardt and Susanne Soldan invite you to explore the courtyard of TANZWERK Werder with all your senses and to engage with it in a collaborative and artistic way. Everyone is welcome. Anyone can join in.
Sudden Starlings is a collective from Berlin and Brandenburg, founded by Eva Burghardt, Elma Riza, and Susanne Soldan. Three women who combine dance and video in their exploration of public spaces. As Sudden Starlings Collective, they bring dance to other places and other places to dance. This results in video works and participatory projects that open up new perspectives on both.
6:00 p.m. Soup
Delicious soup from Biohof Werder – vegetarian, tasty, filling.
7:00 p.m. HERZT. The world is vibration | Dance performance by Laura Heinecke & Company
Frequencies, impulses, development… HERTZ is a performance of continuous change. Three dancers, a bare stage, and a world of sound invite you on a meditative journey that embodies the cycles of life: impulse, growth, exhaustion, and rebirth. HERTZ. The world is vibration is an aesthetically flowing work by Laura Heinecke & Company and joins the repertoire of works that often explore the human within larger universal questions.
Artistic direction Laura Heinecke | Dance Sophia Barr, Francesca Fazi, Hahna Nichols | Lighting, Music, technology Ralf Grünberg | Choreography Laura Heinecke with Aura Antikainen, Dagmar Ottmann, Sarantoula Sarantaki | Dramaturgical accompaniment Jo Koppe | Stage Clemens Kowalski | Costumes Angharad Matthews | Mentoring Gareth Clark | Production management Frauke Niemann | Photos Jennifer Rohrbacher, Bernd Gurlt
8:00 p.m. Slot for spontaneity
Since this evening is intended to be an evening by and for many, but we don’t know you yet, we are keeping this slot open and would be delighted if you would like to use the space spontaneously to introduce yourselves with and through your art, express your interest, or whatever else you like… We will provide a small stage area and sound system.
9:00 p.m. SYNCOPE | Haze & Lux | Heizkeller
SYNCOPE is an immersive audiovisual experience that draws the audience into the depths of the tunnel—both sonically and visually. As you are sucked into the proverbial rabbit hole, space and time are distorted by hypnotic rhythms, pulsating generative images, and shifting perspectives. Layer by layer, SYNCOPE unfolds into an intense interplay of structured chaos and precise focus, with a blurred line between control and surrender.
Haze & Lux is a collective of passionate musicians, sound artists, and creative programmers. They create captivating live audiovisual shows and interactive exhibits that explore the boundaries between art, science, and technology.
SATURDAY I June 21, 2025
11:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. Open doors | Site visit | Exchange
If you haven’t made it on any of the other days, come by here. Take a look at the place, get a feel for it, strike up a conversation, eat cake, read books, add your two cents, make wishes, make contacts, and much more. Feel welcome… :
Focused discussion with everyone who has the time and interest. We will share our impressions and experiences and see if this place has the potential to become a cultural quarter.
We are particularly looking for artists from the region who are interested in establishing such a place and would like to get involved and contribute to its development! Come by – we look forward to seeing you!
Participation is free of charge! Donations are welcome and will be used exclusively to cover remaining costs and support volunteer work on site.
The Kunstquartier / tanzWERK Werder is located 10 minutes’ walk from the Werder/Havel train station (RE1).
