Performance on the streets

Over the course of three days, the rrrRr – Perrrformat Performance Festival presents performing arts in public and semi-public venues across Zurich.

In this edition of the festival, the three-person artistic team invites us to understand movement as a response to social, political, physical or capitalist pressures. The performance festival follows the thematic theme ‘Under Pressure!’. Movement as a form of expression varies from body to body and reveals what can be negotiated, questioned or reimagined. The perspectives are correspondingly diverse: eight groups of artists present their work at eight different locations across the city

It is precisely these fleeting, shared moments of performance in freely accessible venues that make the festival, for me, a Zurich insider’s tip for June. To highlight the diversity of the programme, I’m sharing four works from this year’s programme:

Drawing inspiration from the favourite songs of Uber Eats riders in Zurich, Juliette Uzor has created a piece featuring three performers that explores the fleeting nature of communities. A purpose-driven, transactional gathering of people that falls apart again in the blink of an eye – and a shift in perspective that piques my curiosity.

25 June / 7.30 pm, Pfingstweid Park – Pfingstweidstrasse 91, 8005

The artistic protest dance group POLLEN specialises in interventions in public spaces. As part of the Parade against Precarity organised by Tanzhaus Zürich, the activist performance group led by Charlotte Matthiesen and Cyril Hermann is contributing to the parade in an artistic way. Dance as a vehicle for resistance makes perfect sense to me, but I’ve actually never experienced it in the form of a protest dance group before – so I’m all the more excited to see how POLLEN will ‘pollinate’ the parade with their performance.

26 June / 5 pm, Ni-Una-Menos Square

At the iconic Zentralwäscherei, ‘Lento Violento’ places a wooden installation at the centre of the stage and draws inspiration from the traditional Italian couple’s dance, the Liscio. The piece by Italian choreographer Elena Francalanci explores desire as a public process that is continually renegotiated between the performers. I am particularly keen to see how a wooden installation, combined with partner dancing and contemporary art, tackles such a subtle theme.

26 June / 10.00 pm, Zentralwäscherei

The up-and-coming Swiss choreographer Emma Bertuchoz presents the piece ‘Swans for Play’. The word ‘play’ in the title presumably refers to the grey area between manipulation and seduction, which the performers explore. The piece also playfully foreshadows the immersion in and emergence from the qualities and imaginary images of the deer and the swan. I am curious to see what kind of movement emerges in this playful grey area.

27 June / 9.00 pm, Schulhaus Letten – Rousseaustrasse 43, 8037 Zurich

You can find the full programme here. The rrrRr – Perrrformat Performance Festival is free to attend. Anyone wishing to make a donation can support the festival.