The Bautzner Street 107
in the time of the GDR

With Villa Wigman, Mary Wigman created a place that is important in dance history. For the past three years, the Villa Wigman for Dance Association has not only been removing and uncovering layer after layer of the monument with the renovation, but has also been researching the history of the site in artistic practice. To this end, the Villa Wigman for Dance Association is embarking on a search for traces with the Artistic Series No. 1-3 from 2022 to 2024.

The second part of the Artistic Series, from April 28 to 30, 2023, will deal with the location of the villa\wigman, Bautzner Straße 107, during the GDR era. In the 1950s, the hall, which had been damaged on February 13, 1945, was rebuilt and from then on - until the opening of the Semper Opera - served the ballet of the Dresden State Opera as a training and rehearsal venue. At Bautzner Straße 107, the choreographers Tom Schilling and Harald Wandtke, among others, created sensational dance pieces of the GDR. With her dance theater productions, Arila Siegert had a decisive influence on the dance scene of the time. With the founding of the Kleine Szene in 1988, as a Kammerspiele venue of the Dresden State Opera, the location offered a stage for experimental dance and music theater. Together with visual artists, Hanne Wandtke initiated performances that dared to transcend conventional censorships.

The Artistic Series No. 2 deals with the period from 1950 to 1989 in a variety of formats. Contemporary witnesses will have their say with their very personal memories. There will be a scientific reflection of dance and theater in the GDR and especially in Bautzner Straße 107. Artistic confrontations with this place and this time will open up perspectives from the present in a collage. Installative exhibition objects make contemporary testimonies visible.