Choreographer Florentina Holzinger shatters all boundaries Helene Hegemann on the Austrian artist
Dance begins where language ends. In the best case scenario, choreographers translate states that cannot be communicated verbally. This can mean everything and nothing: Swan Lake and motorcycle stunts, as well as the act of defecating on stage at a precisely agreed moment – ‘and of course, it's not primarily about defecating as such, but about disciplining oneself to be able to do it on command’.
Florentina Holzinger and her ensemble, which must be imagined as a troupe of diverse, extremely captivating solo artists and should never go unmentioned, seem to have reached the upper echelons of high culture in terms of quality – with the potential, and this is the difference to comparable boundaries within the field, not only to break down these boundaries, but to redefine them. They attract people to the theatre who have never set foot in one before. Their shows are considered life-changing. The question is, for whom? It is difficult to define a target audience, as the fan base is extremely diverse. Women under 18, even though they are not even allowed to buy tickets due to age restrictions. Men over 70, who are just as unlikely to be able to relate to the plays. All social classes, all age groups, all genders.
It is almost impossible to predict in advance whether someone will be moved by Holzinger's evenings, perhaps even quit their job and emigrate (all of which has happened before) – or fall into the opposite extreme: a pseudo-bored reeling off of ‘Is this really necessary?’ cascades. Nowadays, only a few spectators dare to complain about the extremes on stage. When they do, it's not particularly well-founded, but rather with strange groans and sighs. Sigh, everyone's naked. Or: sigh, self-harm, sigh, silliness. No counterargument, no interpretation, just ‘sigh,’ as if all verbal means of expression available to these critics have degenerated into inarticulate grunts in the face of the shows. A grunt that someone utters to expel something from their body that they cannot process.
Florentina Holzinger started dancing at the age of 16. She studied choreography in Amsterdam, fell several metres onto her face during a guest performance of the play ‘Kein Applaus für Scheiße’ (No Applause for Shit) in 2013, and woke up in hospital. In response, she took up martial arts, which she has recently been practising in preparation for a film by Viennese director Kurdwin Ayub – shot in early summer, Holzinger plays the lead role. A former MMA fighter who is hired as a personal trainer by a wealthy family in the Middle East to teach self-defence to their two confined daughters. She accepted because she liked the role. Not because she suddenly needed to take an interest in film. Twelve theatre productions she has directed are now listed on Wikipedia; the entry omits a vast number of performances, although these would be just as noteworthy for their concise, profound beauty.
