Groove of the photons

Workshop series for children on creative use of movement and camera

Dancer Parvathi Ramanathan and photographer Ludger Storcks invite children ages 8-12 to explore the interplay of dance and photography.

In dance, we explore facial expressions, hand gestures and footwork inspired by Indian dance forms. We learn how to bring space to life through our dancing bodies - whether we are alone, in front of an audience, or interacting with the camera.

We will also learn to playfully handle the camera as a photo and video tool and to use it in interaction with dance and movement. We will take a closer look at the technical aspects of the camera, but also want to discover its numerous pictorial and narrative possibilities. Through photographic and video material, together we will create visual scores and elements that convey a sense of movement, personality, and voice.

The joint dance-camera sessions are meant to be a space of fun and play for the participating children. A space for creative expression and self-confident experimentation.

Ludger Storcks and Parvathi Ramanathan have already worked with the children of the GU Straßburger Straße as part of the Landing Nesting Project 2021. In addition, Parvathi (also called Paro by the children) gave some dance lessons last summer.

The workshop takes place on 16 dates between Aug 15 and Nov 02 in the GU Strassburger Straße and is open only for the children living there.

About the artists

Ludger Storcks takes pictures for more than twenty years. For more than ten years he also danced on a daily base. By training he is a cultural anthropologist. In photography he is interested in texture and light, colour and presence. In dance photography he is much interested in specific collaborative aspects. He looks for a shared space of mutual awareness and mirroring in which the picture rather happens than is being taken from a supposed outside.

Parvathi Ramanathan is a dancer, researcher and writer who has early morning affairs with poetry. Parvathi completed an MPhil in Theatre and Performance at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. Her research practice engages corporeal and anthropological processes, leading to written work that can be found in various international publications. Since January 2022, she writes about the Berlin dance scene on Tanzschreiber.de and is the co-editor of ‘Indent – the body and the performative’. Parvathi is trained in classical dance forms Bharatanatyam and Odissi. She is a certified Dance Movement Therapy Facilitator and a recipient of the Arts Research Grant by the India Foundation for the Arts.

'Groove der Photonen' is sponsored by Offensive Tanz für junges Publikum and accompanied by Theater o.N. in Kollwitzstraße.