with Grupo Oito (dance collective) 

in English


Resistance, with its various levels of meaning, has become a key word in our practice. This complexity of resistance is reflected in our movement work and became, during the many years of training together, a body language of its own. For twelve years now we meet as a group at least three times a week to train, create, discuss together and are on a long journey of understanding what collective work means. Where does one’s own comfort zone end and resistances emerge? How do we deal with this? The Practice of Resistance as a real force and metaphorical image inspires the continuity of our work and each new creation and is in the broadest sense a tool to question established power relations and social norms. Collectivity is more a process than a state. In this workshop we want to give insight into our search for collective processes in movement and in the form of a presentation. In a physical practice we explore the contradictory aspects of resistance, creating a space for collective processes of thinking.


Grupo Oito is a dance collective that has been working in Berlin for over twelve years. It sees itself as a circle of individuals who create a space for artistic exchange and reflection. The basis for the collaboration is the "Get Physical Process" developed by the Brazilian choreographer Ricardo de Paula, which combines elements from various contemporary, classical and traditional dance and bodywork methods. In their dance pieces, the group deals with social grievances and political questions through movement and investigates how these can be reflected or transformed in personal living environments. The members of Grupo Oito are professional dancers from Brazil, Germany, Spain, USA and Italy. Social positionings as black, white, people of color, as well as different cultural influences come together in the group. In this constellation of lived diversity, Grupo Oito represents a successful long-term experiment in intercultural communication. As a microcosm of the postcolonial situation, the collaboration within the collective, which has been tried and tested over many years of exchange, provides an ideal laboratory for questions relating to society as a whole.