A Cultural Project for More Participation in Contemporary Circus

July 2025
Tageszentren der Lebenshilfe / Berlin Circus Festival

With TADAs, the Berlin Circus Festival works with the Lebenshilfe Berlin to excite new target groups about the genre of contemporary circus. The goal is to make participation possible in a simple and straightforward manner for people who have a more difficult access to culture.
This took place in 2025 using three formats: over the course of two days, the piece Natures Mortes was presented at Tageszentrum der Lebenshilfe Mitte, followed by post-performance discussions. The audience were clients of the Tageszentren, or daily centers, in Mitte, Spandau and Neukölln as well as inhabitants of the residential facility located in Mitte. Some of the audiences participated afterward in a three-day workshop and got to take a look behind the curtains while actively helping to set up the festival. In addition, there was a shared excursion to the festival including a tour and a discussion with the audience.

Further informations:
www.berlin-circus-festival.de/

Short Performances, Journeys of Discovery and Mask Workshops in the Organism Democracy

July – October 2025
Organismendemokratie (Organism Democracy, the outdoor performance venue of Ballhaus Ost)

The Organismendemokratie Berlin Osloer Straße has existed since 2019 and it has also functioned as the outdoor performance location of Ballhaus Ost since 2024. Within the scope of the ecological-artistic practice developed here, people from the neighborhood, primary and secondary school students as well as university students, theater audiences and international guests encounter the creatures that live here (currently more than 400 species have been registered here). Open Praxis I issues an invitation to visit the wild forest of the organism democracy every Thursday. For children, there are short performance, journeys of discovery through the territory and a mask workshop. Young adults are invited to hang out and enjoy snacks and masks. Club Real opens up its collections of masks and costumes for this. This allows spontaneous ideas to come into being in public space – for example, the spontaneous performance Als Blattlaus zum Späti (To the Convenience Store as an Aphid).  Both formats are open for daycare facilities and schools and are also free of charge.

Further informations:
www.organismendemokratie.org/wo/berlin-osloer-str/

A Participatory Project for Seniors in Nursing Homes

September to October 2024 & July 2025
Caritas-Seniorenzentrum Sankt Johannes Berlin / Pflege und Wohnen Johannastift

Dance on Participation visits theater productions together with the inhabitants of nursing homes in order to experience live dance. In workshops that took place in advance of the theater visit, the participants dance together, discuss and share knowledge about theater. After the visit, a shared reflection about what has been experienced takes place. In this manner, the cultural and societal participation of older people who require care is strengthened and their visibility within the cultural landscape is increased.

Further informations:
www.dance-on.net/partizipation/kulturelle-teilhabe-in-der-pflege/

Intergenerational Dance Workshops in an Allotment Garden

July to September 2024 & May to July 2025
BIOTOPIA outdoor stage in the allotment garden Biesenhorst II in Karlshorst

Dirty Daisy offers intergenerational dance workshops that allow the gardeners to get to know each other better as well as to network. Acceptance and mutual understanding are fomented and a learning between the generations is stimulated. Stories come to life through biographical work (interview formats) and playful theatrical design. The allotment garden serves as a theatrical space, an outdoor stage for big and small alike.

Further informations:
www.dirtydaisy.wixsite.com/biotopia

Cultural Education in Public Space and Societal Engagement

July to October 2025
The area surrounding FELD Theater für junges Publikum

Bicicleta Manifesta by Atelier SER combines art and cultural education in public space with societal engagement. At multiple locations around FELD Theater, people of all ages can make posters using the mobile silk screening workshop of Atelier SER. In doing so, they grapple with a societally relevant topic, exchange thoughts and choose their own words, sentences or slogans that they then write by hand on their posters. This results in individual and diverse printed works which make the selected topic visible and, at the same time, emphasize both the cultural participation as well as the significance of FELD Theater within the cultural landscape. The mobile printing workshop, which is installed on a bicycle, serves not only to creatively communicate silk screen printing as an artistic tool, but also as a place for meetings and exchanges.

Further informations:
www.jungesfeld.de/

Movement Workshops for People with Psychiatric Experience

October to December 2024 & July to October 2025
Kontakt- und Beratungsstelle (KBS) KommRum e.V. in Friedrichshain

Dance and Humor: Meeting in Movement is intended for people with psychiatric experience and psychological impairments as well as interested parties from the neighborhood. In a straightforward and uncomplicated workshop setting, access to dance is mediated through improvisation and humorous movement. The goal is to promote creativity and a zest for life, supplemented through shared visits to theater performance that provide an insight into the contemporary performing arts.

Further informations:
www.kommrum.de/de/kontakt-und-beratungsstellen/friedrichshain/veranstaltungen-friedrichshain/

Movement & Dance Gatherings in Tanzfabrik Kreuzberg

October to December 2025
Tanzfabrik Kreuzberg

A straightforward and uncomplicated workshop that is accessible for everyone who would like to learn how to dance and how to express themselves more freely: over the course of two-hour movement and dance meetings, the participants how they feel and how they would like or are able to move. There are no choreographies or steps to learn or copy. Instead, the participants are accompanied by simple, easily realizable exercises that help them to develop their individual abilities and their expression. Each session is free of charge, unique and is supported by a carefully curated selection of music. The workshops are led by Ahia Kamanan, an artist who lives in Berlin and who has experience in West African dance and educational approaches. The workshops are especially intended to reach people who have previously had little or no access to dance and, at the same time, strengthen the connection that the participants have with Tanzfabrik Berlin.

Further informations:
www.caml-k.com/

Participatory Community Project for Trans*, Gender Diverse and Queer-Positioned People (INTA+)

September & November 2025
Berliner Ringtheater

Trans/generations is a participatory community project that places its focus on trans*, gender diverse and queer-positioned people and deliberately invites them to join in the shaping of the project. Over the course of a four-part workshop series at Berliner Ringtheater, the artists elena rose light, Cristina Leoni-Osion and Jäckie Rydz will deal with the topic of transition together with artists, using a set of oracle cards with a variety of human and non-human trans heroes as its point of departure, including methods such as movement, meditation, ritual, drawing and writing. Trans/generations thus not only increases the visibility of trans* and queer perspectives, it also creates simplified access points to theater and builds up new, diverse audience relationships for the Berliner Ringtheater.

Further informations:
www.berlinerringtheater.de/programm/trans-generations/

Hip-Hop & Krump Dance Workshops for Girls* and Women* from the Ages of 7 to 21

August to December 2024 & August to November 2025
Schilleria Mädchen*Treff (MaDonna Mädchenkult.Ur e.V.)

The community and neighborhood projects What Moves You? is intended for girls* and women* from the ages of 7 to 21 from Berlin-Neukölln. Dance workshops that are free of charge with the Krump dancer Lucia Marzec at Schilleria Mädchen*Treff. With a focus on the street dances in the style of hip-hop and Krump, the participants learn how to express themselves creatively and process feelings through dance; that is, they learn what moves them. In doing so, an enthusiasm for movement is awakened and impulses for creative work are formed. Following the workshops, there are shared visits to dance theater pieces at, for example, locations like Tanzkomplizen/Junges Tanzhaus Berlin. This allows the participants to become acquainted with the places for dance in their neighborhood and see how professional dancers perform on stage.

Further informations:
www.schilleria.blogspot.com/

Coming Together for an Exchange With Crip-Related Topics

October to December 2024 & May to November 2025
Vierte Welt, Ballhaus Ost and Online

Dissolving is a regular gathering for an exchange with crip-related topics. The focus is placed on neurodivergent, chronically ill and invisible differently abled perspectives. In a relaxed environment, a discussion about (accessibility) needs and crip-specific forms of organizations and aesthetics takes place. In doing so, new connections and options for action are explored using the senses. The meetings are a combination of the acute topics of the participants and the topical points of focus prepared by Juliet Meding and Wanda Dubrau. Everyone who is interested is invited to take part in the form that is possible for them.

Further informations:
www.ballhausost.de/dissolving/