WE´RE USED TO BEING DARKER
invites at a glance
into a closed society.
10 women. 10 episodes.
Off the rails. Spare.
No matter how hard it lies,
how deep we fall,
how far we drift:
It rolls. Unstoppable.
A microcosm under deprivation of freedom.
The expectation of (free) time.
10 approaches, 10 angles, one chance
to hit them all. Strike.
What limitations do we seek for ourselves? What limits, what liberates and what empowers us? The attraction for us lies in the transfer of the inner perception of limitation through an “outside”, in our current space of movement, which seems almost unlimited. It is possible for us to be at any time, almost everywhere. To be (simply) everything.
But is this really true? Which rules and systems do we impose on ourselves, which ones determine us, which ones do we determine ourselves. Can we always be who we want to be, always and everywhere? How free do we feel? How free are we really?
![we´re used to being darker go plastic company dresden ©Erik-Gross](https://www.goplasticcompany.de/wp-content/uploads/we´re-used-to-being-darker-go-plastic-company-dresden-©Erik-Gross.jpg)
A camera view of Hollywood’s prison.
Lines draw the space, electronic flashing clocks the atmosphere, 10 women meet each other in the total institution. They act self-directedly next to each other. Or we witness their conversation and cannot eavesdrop. It’s not about their liberation but about the correspondence of images. go plastic has been working on film art for years, on the expectations that consuming pop culture leaves in us. This is also the case in WE’RE USED TO BEING DARKER. The characters – stripped of their plot – perform and caricature themselves.
While in other go plastic productions a character camps out on stage, this time it’s different: on the couches of the bowling alley bar, on stage, we, the audience, sit. Who is judged, who is condemned, who is free?
WUTBD is about images of women and the expectations placed on these figures, and of course I, as the viewer, place myself in relation to them: a mutual game of projection takes place.
WUTBD is a collaborative work and as such a social experiment. And how much this encounter has been worthwhile I notice in the vibrating memory of the individual artistic signatures that became recognizable that evening.
Barbara Lubich (Italian filmmaker, sociologist, historian), Autumn 2021
![we´re used to being darker go plastic company dresden ©Erik-Gross](https://www.goplasticcompany.de/wp-content/uploads/we´re-used-to-being-darker-II-go-plastic-company-dresden-©Erik-Gross.jpg)
VIDEO
Performance Teaser
“WE’RE USED TO BEING DARKER“
web series in 10 episodes
Episode 1 “Manifest” • Caroline Beach
Episode 2 “Gelernt” • Rika Yotsumoto
Episode 3 “Chancen” • Luise Barner
Episode 4 “Sehnsuchtsparade” • Johanna Roggan
Episode 5 “Witchcraft” • Hannah Adomat
Episode 6 “Blaue Stunde” • Fang Yun Lo
Episode 7 “Unerhört” • Ariel Cohen
Episode 8 “10 s” • Georgina Leo St Laurent
Episode 9 “Boomerang” • Julia Amme
Episode 10 “Aus_Schnitt” • Micheal Tucker
GALLERY
PERFORMANCES
World premiere:
VFB Hellerau-Klotzsche / HELLERAU – European Centre for the Arts Dresden • October 2019
Further shows / Touring:
Bowling Star Halle, hosted by WUK Theaterquartier Halle (Saale) • August 2020
City Bowling Görlitz, hosted by Neiße Centre for Contemporary Arts e.V. • September 2020
VFB Hellerau-Klotzsche / HELLERAU – European Centre for the Arts Dresden • November 30, 2022 as part of time & s_pace – 10 Jahre go plastic company
VFB Hellerau-Klotzsche / HELLERAU – Europäisches Zentrum der Künste Dresden • 1. Dezember 1, 2022 as part of time & s_pace – 10 Jahre go plastic company
Bowl Play Leipzig / in cooperation with LOFFT – DAS THEATER Leipzig • May 24, 2023
PRESS
„…Again and again, the social norms of femininity are questioned. Particularly haunting is a scene in which the youngest performer, just nine years old, sits on a chair with her legs on the table in the manner of a serene prison guard and ties a friendship bracelet over her big toe while Johanna Roggan hisses at her from a distance. A short hiss back, nothing more. Johanna Roggan can hiss as long as she wants. That’s strong, that sits. And it’s bitterly nasty, especially when someone else makes the rules.….“
Rico Stehfest, 25.10.2019 Dresdner Neueste Nachrichten
“… Ten life stories on the bowling alley
In front of about 50 mainly young spectators – more were not possible due to corona – the actors of the company goplastic of the European Center of the Arts Hellerau took possession of the lanes of the Bowling Star in the Delitzscher Straße to present their dance project of the extra class. In “We’re used to being darker”, each of the ten very different females tells her own personal life story, without a continuous overall plot being discernible…”
Katja Pausch, August 2020
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CAST & CREW
performers of the premiere:
Hannah Adomat Student
Julia Amme Actress, Performer in Dresden
Viola Luise Barner B-Girl, Performer based in Berlin
Caroline Beach Dancer / Musician / Choreographer, based in Berlin
Ariel Cohen Dancer / Performer based in Berlin
Fang Yun Lo Performerin, Document Theatre, based in Dresden / Essen
Georgina Leo St. Laurent Ballroom Pioneer, Dancer, Model based in Berlin
Johanna Roggan Dancer, Choreographer based in Dresden
Michael Tucker Dancer, Dragqueen based in Dresden
Rika Yotsumoto Dancer based in Dresden
involved in the revival in 2022:/23
Ly Thien Co Friedrich
Josef Panda
Phoenix
Hannah Adomat
Julia Amme
Viola Luise Barner
Caroline Beach
Helena Fernandino
Ari Garcia
Fang Yun Lo
Johanna Roggan
Steph Quinci
Suzette Sagisi
artistic Direction:
Cindy Hammer, Susan Schubert
videoartist:
Benjamin Schindler
costume / Set Up:
Alexandra Börner
production management:
Josefine Wosahlo
technical Direction:
Benjamin Henrichs
music:
Various Artists
art work:
Stephan Tautz
photos:
Erik Groß, Stephan Tautz
PR:
Thomas Natzschka
PARTNER & FINANCIAL SUPPORT
A production of the go plastic company in co-production with HELLERAU – Europäisches Zentrum der Künste and WUK Theater Halle in cooperation with Hellerauer Sporttreff. Supportet by the NATIONALE PERFORMANCE NETZ co-production funding dance.
Funded by: Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media, Cultural Foundation of the Free State of Saxony, State Capital Dresden – Office for Culture and Monument Protection Dresden and City of Halle (Saale) for cultural purposes 2019. This measure is co-financed by tax funds on the basis of the budget adopted by the members of the Saxon Parliament.
Mit friendyl support of DevirCapa residency program Faro, Portugal, Richter Meyer Marx Studio Berlin, TENZA schmiede, TanzNetzDresden and GrooveStation Dresden.
The 2022/23 revival is made possible by the program “Stay curious. City of Culture Dresden 2022“
RESEARCH & REHEARSALS