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Our dance ambassador Céline experienced the PURPLE dance festival. She took part in the performance "Matta Matta 2.0" at Uferstudios.

MATTA MATTA 2.0

An anteroom: Gestures and a voice from the loudspeakers explain to us what we are supposed to do. We are part of this performance. We all end up joined by the hands as one big snake. The journey behind the black curtain can begin.

A white dance floor and various blue mats await us.

We walk as a whole group into a confined space of mats. When we are given the signal to sit down, the excitement builds. There is a wall of mats around us. Standing up is not allowed. Nervousness and fascination spread. The children's wide eyes clearly show how focused they are on what is happening. What will happen next?

All around us, behind the blue wall of mats, the first performer gets started. Again and again we see individual body parts gliding across the wall. Sometimes a foot, sometimes the legs and then more and more until we finally see the head. He destroys his wall and the space around us becomes bigger and more open again. We get new seats again.

This time we sit in a rectangle with the stage in between. The performers start and an interplay of people and mat is created. It's fascinating what you can do with a mat. Many floor elements and heavy and light movements show the difference. A body can be heavy and fall to the floor, but it can also be very light. It gets wilder and wilder and a kind of communication can be recognized. Sometimes they lie down, sometimes one sits on the other or they simply do nothing. The mat is always present.

Suddenly there is a bang. The large, heavy mat falls over and reveals the third performer. She changes the space again. She seems so light in her movements as she shimmies along the mats. It almost seems as if she has no floor beneath her and is climbing somewhere high up in the air.

As the piece progresses, the performers act as a group and constantly create new situations. Optical illusions, the mats become a tower. There is a kind of Ninja Warrior wall, where the performer uses all her strength to pull herself up and win over the children's enthusiasm.

Why are you hardly allowed to touch the mats in PE lessons? Why are they such a sanctuary at school? This play proves that mats can do more than just one thing - lie on the floor and protect us from the hard ground.

At the end, we all sit around a large mat and the performers merge with the audience. A great interplay of strength and letting go that shows us that both women and men have the same power and can do anything.

It all ends with a workshop for the kids. Happy and full of energy, they go through the course. At the end, the children are sweaty and exhausted, but full of new impressions. A successful play that invites them to try things out and join in.