“I was born and raised in Switzerland and I identify with Switzerland as my home. I speak good German, even Swiss German, people think I’m quite nice. Nevertheless, I feel uncomfortable and irritated when I see posters in public showing a woman in a burka with the slogan “Foreign”.”
Muhammed Kaltuk , 2019
Upcoming Performances:
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A co-production between Company MEK, Kaserne Basel and COLOURS Festival Stuttgart. The first sketches of Father Politics were created in 2020 as part of the PREMIO Young Talent Award for Theatre and dance.
Father Politics unmasks the emotionalization of politics, the opinion mongering and polarization of political advertising campaigns, the influence and deliberate manipulation through differently interpreted, rewritten, twisted and altered truths. For Kaltuk, himself the son of a Turkish politician, the new political climate in Switzerland has a direct impact on his personal life. The young, multinational and diverse ensemble tells from a very personal perspective of powerlessness in the face of politics, of being paralyzed when you can‘t connect, when you don‘t feel represented. It is about taking a stand. It‘s about the energies that arise when you politicize and get something moving. Fridays for Future shows that young people are absolutely political. Enough reason for Company MEK to be loud. Father Politics shows the dance individualities of the ensemble and bundles the energy and strength of the common appearance in powerful common choreographies. With high professionalism, coolness and authenticity MEK represents on stage the new powerful, young, diverse generation CHANGE.
Pictures: Laura Gauch
supported by Fachausschuss Tanz und Theater, Kanton Basel-Stadt/Kultur, Kulturelles.bl, Bildung-, Kultur- und Sportdirektion, von der LANDIS & GYR Stiftung, Gemeinde Reinach, Stiftung Anne-Marie Schindler, Ernst Göhner Stiftung, Pro Helvetia PREMIO and Schreinerei Peterhans, Schibli & Co. AG
Father Politics has been performed at:
Kaserne Basel
Breakthrough Festival // Tanzhaus Zürich
Zürich tanzt // Tanzhaus Zürich
Oltner Tanztage
Dampfzentrale Bern
Phönix Theater, Steckborn
Groove’n’move, Genf
Bühne Aarau
Theater Chur
Solothurner Tanztage // TOBS
Düsseldorf Festival! (DE)
The Coronet Theatre, London (UK)
Riley Theatre, Leeds (UK)
CRR Concert Hall, Istanbul (TR)
Tanec Valmez Festival (CZ)
Pressestimmen
Choreography
Muhammed Kaltuk
Dancers
Schanika Mohn, Annakatharina Chiedza Spörri, Manuel Janick von Arx, Egon Gerber // Simon Walti, Lea Korner, Sarafina Beck // Harumi Mumenthaler, Moa Bomolo, Wittha Tonja
Text
Annakatharina Chiedza Spörri
Musical Arrangement
Tobias Herzog (Clockworked)
Stage & Costumes
Kevin Peterhans
Lightconception, Technique
Daniel Tschanz
Concept-Co-Development und Dramaturgy
Cindy Jänicke
Production Manager
Fabienne Guldimann
Technique-Partner
nuance Veranstaltungsechnik GmbH
companymek.com 