Dancing With Our Neighbours

To mark its 30th anniversary, the German-British performance collective Gob Squad presents its participative production “Dancing with Our Neighbours”. Gob Squad developed the piece together with neighbours of the independent theatre HAU Hebbel am Ufer on Mehringplatz. The focus of the project is on promoting intercultural participation among Berlin’s international urban community.

Based on a similarly participative performance from 2012 entitled “Dancing About”, Gob Squad and residents living in the vicinity of the HAU team up to explore questions of identity in a playful way. The collective reacts to language barriers (should they arise) by searching for performative translation possibilities, such as through dance and music. Following a participation-based workshop and research phase in public space, Gob Squad will then develop a piece together with a previously prepared group of amateurs from the neighbourhood. Multiple performances of the finished piece with changing casts will be staged at the HAU.

In “Dancing with Our Neighbours”, audience involvement plays an especially important role in the creative process. The Gob Squad will be joined by the British theatre group Common Wealth, which is known internationally as a pioneer of participative theatre practice. Together they hope to encourage greater cultural participation in Germany and present their local activities in an international context. Following the performances in Berlin, Common Wealth will team up with the women’s artistic-activist collective Speakers Corner in Bradford to develop a standard set of rules for participative artistic collaboration. The goal would be to perform a translation of “Dancing with Our Neighbours” at other locations as a touring version.

Artistic director: Gob Squad Arts Collective
Partners: Common Wealth, Speakers Corner, Ayla Suveren
Performances: HAU Hebbel am Ufer Berlin, Berlin: 27 May – 2 Jun. 2024