A short semi-digital dance opera
For dancers, soprano, mummies and avatars
Virtuell dance Opera: http://www.cleo.show
Avatars dancing hip hop accompanied by an aria written by baroque composer Georg Friedrich Händel, dancers voguing to Egyptian music from the 1960s by Umm Kulthum – these differences are bound together by Cleopatra, empress in ancient history, seductress in Händel’s baroque opera Giulio Cesare, a symbol of today’s pop culture. Her life was told in many films, has been sketched in comics and her style has been copied – Beyoncé, Cardi B and Lizzo wear her headpieces, Uma Thurman a Cleopatra bob in Pulp Fiction. The ancient queen is a gigantic projection figure for clichés, cultural appropriation as well as empowerment. BERLIN MOVES with its artistic director and choreographer Lior Shneior explores this field of tension evoked by the different “Cleopatra” personae through dance and in virtual reality.
A 3D virtual platform on which BERLIN MOVES resurrects the ancient Egyptian queen after more than 2000 years will be launched in conjunction with the once-only pop-up live show at the historic industrial hall Glashaus Arena. Through motion capture they developed Cleopatra avatars who will perform in the show and whom the audience can take home on their smartphones to make them dance. The semi-digital dance opera Cleo created by BERLIN MOVES is a trip from Egypt through pop culture to the infinity of the Internet.
BERLIN MOVES is a Berlin-based project. Since 2016 it has collaborated with more than 300 young dancers and artists and has built a unique bridge between urban movers, media artists, fashion designers, singers, and composers, between street dance and classical music, underground, pop and high culture as well as Berlin hallmarks like Berliner Ensemble, Alte Münze, Jonny Knüppel and the Floating University. They have measured the city from Marzahn to Spandau with their dance performances in public spaces and music videos.
Lior Shneior 