bottom up productions & Isabela Fernandes Santana: O Que Resta do Fogo – Sophiensæle | Independent Theater in Berlin

bottom up productions & Isabela Fernandes Santana:
O Que Resta do Fogo

One person stands with legs apart on top of two other people who support themselves downward. The space appears industrial and empty, with warm lighting focused on the bodies.
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O Que Resta do Fogo is inspired by one of humanity’s oldest crafts – charcoal burning – and its deep connection with the body and nature. Charcoal burners inhabit a paradox: they are guardians of ancestral knowledge and agents of destruction. Entire forests have been felled over centuries, yet the fire that consumes can also regenerate; the knowledge that destroys holds the seed of renewal.

The choreography traces the cosmology of this labor – one that knows before it sees – through altered air, shifting scents, and the invisible spread of heat. It is an attempt to embody the memory of the forest: what existed before, each felled tree, each combustion cycle. Every repeated gesture leaves its mark on skin and muscle, inscribed in the intimacy of sensing.

bottom up productions is a structure founded by choreographers and dancers Julek Kreutzer and Felipe Fizkal. It seeks to de-hierarchize the structures of contemporary dance production in Berlin. For their Tanztage Berlin premiere in 2026, they invited choreographer Isabela Fernandes Santana to create a piece with them and dancer Mariagiulia Serantoni, centering embodiment as a form of knowledge.

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).

Duration

  • Ca. 60 minutes without intermission

Language

  • Titles are projected in English.
  • Spoken English texts are played over loudspeakers. Understanding the content is not required.

Lighting

  • There are moments of complete darkness at the beginning of the show.

Sound

  • It's getting loud. Earplugs are available.

Other

  • Stage fog is used.

Early boarding

There will be early boarding. The meeting point is in the foyer next to the bar.

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.

Choreography: Isabela Fernandes Santana
Dance, production: Felipe Fizkal, Mariagiulia Serantoni, Julek Kreutzer
Music: Michelangelo Contini
Light design: Eduardo Abdala
Narration: Maja Olenderek, Alexander Vega
Costume advisor: Suelem Cristina
Dramaturgical support: Polina Fenko
Costume advisor: Suelem Cristina
Thanks to: Lina Gómez, Marina Sarno

A production by bottom up productions in co-production with Sophiensæle. 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.

bottom up productions is a structure founded by choreographers and dancers Julek Kreutzer and Felipe Fizkal. It aims to propose a process of de-hierarchizing the dynamics of contemporary dance production in Berlin. They evolve their artistic interests in relation to the practice of an independent choreographer, offering their bodies as producers, facilitators, and performers for the possibility of travelling through their creative universes and practices without them needing to take on production concerns. On the structure’s side, they allow themselves to sustainably share production tasks, giving themselves access to and continuity in their own dance practices, while also connecting with choreographers they would not otherwise have the opportunity to work with. This approach presents an innovative vision of how to develop contemporary dance productions in Berlin.

Isabela Fernandes Santana is a dancer, choreographer and teacher from São Paulo based in Berlin and Paris. She was a Danceweb participant at ImPulsTanz Festival in 2017 and was selected for DANCE HUB Berlin as part of the European project Life Long Burning. Her current solo project is co-produced by ICI–CCN de Montpellier – Occitanie. As a dancer, she has recently collaborated with Calixto Neto / VOA (FR); Michelle Moura (DE); Meg Stuart / Damaged Goods (DE/BE) and Volmir Cordeiro / Donna Volcan (FR).

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