What's the Big Deal About
What's the Big Deal About...? ZZT Theme Week
Every summer semester, the ZZT organizes a themed week on artistic practices and perspectives on social and socio-political issues such as equality, inclusion and community. The series was initiated by Vera Sander in 2024: The first edition was dedicated to feminist working practices and questions about the self-image of female artists. In 2025, the focus was on ableism and accessibility in dance and performance. The 2026 edition focuses on community and resistance in dance and performance.
"What's the Big Deal About Resistance?" - Community and Resistance in Dance and Performance
April 2026
In times of crisis, the question of how artistic practice inscribes itself into social realities becomes particularly relevant. How do resistance, physical knowledge and artistic practice relate to each other and what resources are used? How are we, individually and as a group, resistant and what comes next?
The theme week "What's the Big Deal About Resistance? - Community and Resistance in Dance and Performance" explores the interweaving of physical and artistic practices with everyday areas of life and the possibilities of strengthening belonging and community. Workshops, performances, interventions and lectures with teachers, students and guests invite you to reflect on concepts of communal life, action and dance.
With Thais di Marco, Sahar Damoni, Raphael Moussa Hillebrand, Melih Kirac, Sinjini Chatterjee and others
"What's the Big Deal About Access?" - Moving Ableisms and Accessibilities in Dance and Performance
April 2025
This week invites you to discuss questions of accessibility, ableism and diversity in the fields of dance and performance. Who has access to stages, audiences and training? Who is considered "able" to perform professionally? And how do we all shape such performances on an ongoing basis? Lectures, workshops, performances and interventions by and with guests, students and teachers offer the opportunity to encounter and engage with diverse physicalities and thus opportunities to question, problematize and expand common notions of "the norm".
With Marc Brew, Tanja Erhart, Raina Hofer, Juli Reinartz, Steven Solbrig, Luke Pell and others
"What's the Big Deal About Independence?" - Workshop series on working practices & self-image of female artists
April 2024
The workshop series focuses on the (life and) work practices of successful female artists from different generations and artistic backgrounds. The artists Nora Amin, Elsa Artmann, Maribeth Diggle and Eva Karczag provide insights into their self-image as women in the professional field and the associated strategies and practices in terms of self-assertion, resilience, experiences with gender bias, etc. While female underrepresentation is not as pronounced in dance as in music, for example, dancers and choreographers nevertheless face particular gender-specific challenges in order to realize a successful career in the professional field. Artists from the fields of dance and music are invited to focus on topics that approach these challenges from different perspectives: independence and resilience in the professional field of dance, gender roles and diversity in the canon of classical music, questions of collective composition and shared authorship, feminist and decolonial perspectives on being a dancer This series is funded by the HfMT Köln.
With Nora Amin, Elsa Artmann, Maribeth Diggle and Eva Karczag
