SunBengSitting

Simon Mayer Austria

contemporary dance / national premiere

SunBengSitting is a piece straddling yodelling, folk dance and contemporary dance, a trip to the past and a playful, humorous search for identity. Austrian farm boy and performance artist Simon Mayer invites the audience to get to know his life, his contradictions and his indignation at having to submit to categories and conventions.

Having grown up on a farm facing traditions, nature, youthful rebellion and a bucolic heavy metal band, Simon Mayer moved to Vienna in 1997, attended Vienna’s State Opera’s dance school, spent a season as an aspiring dancer in the corps de ballet and very unexpectedly landed in a world where the word “farmer” could be used as an insult. The move was equal parts deliverance and constraint. SunBengSitting – “Sunbeng” is a word in the Upper Austrian dialect that means the bench in the sun in front of the farmhouse–deals with questions that emerge between the poles of city and country, homeland and foreign lands, pigeonholing and artistic freedom.

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Credits

performance, artistic direction, music: Simon Mayer

sound and live-loop: Pascal Holper

lighting design: Lucas Gruber, Hannes Ruschbaschan

artistic guidance: Frans Poelstra

production management: Sophie Schmeiser

co-production: Kopf hoch/Simon Mayer, brut Wien, FREISCHWIMMER 2014/15 and Imflieger.

touring production: Sophie Schmeiser and Hiros

with the support of Elio Gervasi/raum 33, ROSAS, Kunstencentrum BUDA, shareyourdarlings Plattform and with the kind support of the Austrian Province of Upper Austria, the Office of the Federal Chancellor, the Austrian Cultural Forum in Brussels, the Capital Cultural Fund and the Governing Mayor of Berlin - Senate Chancellery - Cultural Affairs.

thanks to: Kulturverein SPIEL, Trachtenverein Altstädter Bauerngmoa, die Goaßschnalzer Munderfing, Pramtaler Volkstanzgruppe, Fam. Mayer, Christian Schmeiser and Josef Schild.

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Bio

Simon Mayer studied at the Vienna State Opera Ballet School and P.A.R.T.S in Brussels, and was member of the Vienna State Opera Ballet. In 2009, he founded the band “Rising halfmoon” as singer, guitarist and songwriter. As dancer/choreographer and musician he was involved in productions of Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker/ROSAS Wim Vandekeybus and Zita Swoon.

His choreographic repertoire includes solos, duets and group pieces that have been performed internationally (O feather of lead; Dancing with the Sound Hobbyist (Zita Swoon); Monkeymind; SunBengSitting and Sons of Sissy). Simon was Artist in Residence at Theatre de L’L in Brussels and is the artistic director of the festival “spiel” , which he started together with his brothers and the association spiel. Simon is teaching contemporary dance, community dance, traditional dance and voice techniques (Impulstanz Wien, Steirischer Herbst and other international festivals, and as guest teacher at the Konservatorium Wien Privatuniversität).

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This event is made possible by INTPA - INTERNATIONAL NET FOR DANCE AND PERFORMANCE AUSTRIA of Tanzquartier Wien with funds by Federal Chancellery of Austria (BKA) and BMEIA.

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