ZTB E.V. Future Workshop feat. Freelance Dance Ensemble: #6 Value – Sophiensæle | Independent Theater in Berlin
ZTB E.V. Future Workshop feat. Freelance Dance Ensemble:
#6 Value
What is the value of our work? In a neoliberal economy driven by profit, loss and return, how can we define and affirm the value of artistic labor – something inherently difficult to quantify? Is the value only to be found in monetary retribution? What has become of the value of art and artistic practice today? Perhaps the question is not only how to redefine the value of the arts, but under which values and conditions we can continue to create and work as dancers, movers, choreographers and dance workers. In other words, what values do we want to stand for in the Germany of today.
In Berlin, artists and cultural workers have lived for the past two and a half years under constant suspicion. This has manifested through austerity measures that extend their effects to migrant and queer communities, along with the systems that sustain diversity, solidarity and cultural participation. If the state uses cultural funding as a tool for political repression, how do we resist that? What, then, is the true value of what we do – and how does our work change under such conditions?
As we witness alternative structures of care emerging, what kinds of work are workers in the dance field turning to beyond stage performances. How can we affirm and support each other throughout these changes and what kind of lobbyism is needed today.
Following the workshop by Magdalena Jadwiga Härtelova, this panel discussion, moderated by Zeitgenössischer Tanz Berlin (ZTB) e.V., will take a deeper look into the economics of our field through the lens of value, examining its intersections with care work and other types of invisible or unquantifiable labor.
The information on accessibility is still in progress and will be updated as soon as possible. If any questions remain unanswered until then, please feel free to contact the communication department at barrierefreiheit@sophiensaele.com or 030 27 89 00 35. Please note that details may change by the day of the event. Therefore, if you find out after you have purchased your ticket that the performance is no longer accessible to you, you can contact us for a ticket return at ticketing@sophiensaele.com or 030 27 89 00 45 until 5 business days after the event (Monday through Friday between 10am and 6pm).
Early boarding
If, for artistic reasons, the door to the auditorium does not open until very shortly before the performance begins, there is the option of early boarding.
Tickets
- Reservations can be made via the ticket telephone at 030 283 52 66, Monday to Friday from 4pm-6pm
- Via the online ticket shop
- At the box office
You can also find more information about accessibility at the house here.
Panel guests: Emma Holten, Magdalena Jadwiga Härtelova, Jenny Dagg, Colleen Ndemeh Fitzgerald
Moderation: Zeitgenössichertanz Berlin e.V / Julia B. Laperrière, Siegmar Zacharias
Concept: Julia B. Laperrière, Ana Laura Lozza, Siegmar Zacharias
The 35th Tanztage Berlin is a production of Sophiensæle. Funded by the Senate Department for Culture and Social Cohesion. With the kind support of Tanzfabrik Berlin e.V., Theaterhaus Berlin and HZT Berlin. Media partners: Berlin Art Link, Missy Magazine, Rausgegangen, Siegessäule, taz.
Emma Holten is a feminist activist and gender policy consultant. Since 2018, she has worked with feminist economics. In 2024 she published her first book DEFICIT - On the value of care in Danish. It is available in English, Swedish, Norwegian, German, Dutch, and Italian - and forthcoming in 6 other languages. It has won the Politiken Literature Prize, The Library Reader’s Prize, The Sara Danius Prize, The Sprout Prize and was shortlisted for the Montana Literature Award.
Dr. Jenny Dagg is a sociologist and lecturer in the Department of Sociology at Maynooth University in Ireland. Her work explores social and political contexts through the lens of marginalisation and lived experience to progress social inclusion and social justice. Her research has explored resilience of low-income households, immigrant integration, reproductive justice for persons with disabilities, and the basic income for artists in Ireland.
Magdalena Jadwiga Härtelova is a curator and group facilitator who works to create sneaky training grounds for autonomous organizing and collective liberation. They are one of the founding members of Casino for Social Medicine, a volunteer run space on Berlin’s Sonnenallee that defines itself as “part time coffee house, part time mutual aid gamble, part time clinic for collective experiences.” They are also one of the organizers of The Hologram project, a peer-to-peer health protocol practiced from couches all over the world. Within it, they research the long-term effects of receiving free high quality peer care. With Cassie Thornton, Magdalena recently co-edited a book titled It’s Too Late. Do It Anyway! (Thick Press: 2025) dedicated to all fumbling cultural workers in the apocalypse. Magdalena’s other ongoing projects involve a bedroom gallery Mehringplatz 20, a free university of unlearning that employs artists to teach skills other than art, and strategizing for curating towards the end of Art-as-we-know-it.
Colleen Ndemeh Fitzgerald is a multidisciplinary performance artist, activist, and cultural worker of Kpelle (Liberian) and Irish-American descent. Her movement-based practice is rooted in Afro-diasporic, West African, and contemporary dance techniques, centering her feminist, antiracist, and anticolonial politics. She received her BA in Dance and Anthropology from Bates College (USA) and her MA with distinction in Performance at the University of the Arts Berlin – HZT (Germany). She has performed and taught in the Americas, West Africa and Europe. From 2014 to 2019, she lived in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where she was artistically and politically active with Afro-diasporic communities. There, she co-founded Kukily, an Afro-feminist arts collective working across borders in performance, audiovisual media, installation, and community-centered projects. In 2024, Kukily was invited to the Lagos Biennial.