Practice sharing: Anne-Mareike Hess (choreographer, performer within the field of contemporary dance)

With this sharing I would like to give you a physical introduction into my artistic work and my approach to working with the body. 

Some words about my work:

My main focus lies on the body and its inherent potential for transformation; Its status and exposure in society, as well as its presentation, representation and perception on-stage. My work is characterized by precise movement language, embodying and materializing identity questions and themes relevant to our times and sharing them with an audience.

Throughout the years, I have developed a movement practice, which I call “the emotional body”, where I use a combination of imagination and sensory work to put the whole body – including the face – into heightened physical and emotional states in order to create permeable bodies in which every emotion, every mood and atmosphere becomes visible. Works like “Tanzwut” (2014), “Synchronization in process” (2016) and “Give me a reason to feel” (2017) are based on this practice. Since 2018 I have been focusing my artistic work around the (de)construction of gender stereotypes and the body as a projection surface for patriarchal desires and ideas, which so far has led to the solos “Warrior” (2018) and “Dreamer” (2021) and the upcoming trio “Weaver” (2023).

The session will mostly be structured like one long physical journey, devoted to warming up the whole body, finding skeletal support and particularly focusing on opening the senses and becoming sensible for all the information that is constantly flooding into our bodies through our senses. Inspired by somatic practices, anatomy and presence work, we are using improvisation and imagination to put the whole body – including the face – in motion.

Biography

Anne-Mareike Hess is based in Luxembourg and Berlin and works as a choreographer and performer in the field of contemporary dance. In 2018 she founded the independent structure utopic productions, which receives funding from the Ministry of Culture in Luxembourg since 2020. 

Since the beginning of her career as a choreographer, Anne-Mareike’s works have been shown at numerous venues and festivals throughout Europe and Canada. This includes a.o.: I believe that we are having a dialogue (2012), Tanzwut (2014) and Synchronization in process (2016). In 2017 Anne-Mareike was commissioned by the Théâtre d’Esch and the Grand Théâtre de la Ville de Luxembourg to create Give me a reason to feel.

Her first evening-long solo Warrior premiered at the end of 2018 and has been selected by AEROWAVES Twenty20.  In March 2021 she premiered the one-on-one telephone project Through the wire and in December 2021 the new solo Dreamer.

Anne-Mareike works in close collaboration with TROIS C-L in Luxembourg, Dock11 in Berlin and Skogen in Gothenburg; and since 2016 she is an associate artist at Weld in Stockholm. Between 2017-2019 Anne-Mareike was supported by the Grand Luxe network; and since 2020 she is an associate artist at Neimënster in Luxembourg. 

Previously, she was awarded with the emerging artists prize “Stiftung zur Förderung junger Talente” (2012) and the “Danzpraïs” (2015) from the Ministry of Culture in Luxembourg.

Since 2007 Anne-Mareike has worked as a performer with choreographers such as William Forsythe (Human Writes), Eeva Muilu, Rosalind Goldberg (MIT & Jump with me), Ingri Fiksdal (Cosmic body), Heinrich Horwitz (Nijinsky) and Antje Velsinger (PERFORM!), with which she has performed in a number of prestigious venues around the world.

Alongside her work as a choreographer and dancer, she is working as an artistic advisor, coach and teacher. In autumn 2019 Anne-Mareike has been invited to teach as a guest at the Korean National University of Arts School of Dance (Choreography). 

Anne-Mareike received her education at the Conservatory and at TROIS C-L in Luxembourg, she continued her studies at the HfMDK in Frankfurt/Main and at HZT Inter-University Center for Dance in Berlin (Master in Choreography).

More information on: www.annemareikehess.com