Stamped is equally inspired by the chronology and events leading up to, during, and following the construction and fall of the Berlin Wall as it is with our own personal experiences as immigrants in Germany in a Post Wall world.
The moments of alienation, paranoia, exhaustion, feelings of belonging, and of not belonging are drawn from historical accounts, but also deeply drawn from our daily lives. In this exploration, our wall is a wall but it is also a boundary, a border, a social construct around us. It is a suggestion that we’re safer inside of it and that whatever is happening outside is inferior. It is a quiet, imposing power. It’s very presence traps us in a world which we didn’t choose. In this world, as in our world, there is a fear of losing individual identity, and a struggle to maintain one’s self.
Leah Katz earned a BFA in dance from SUNY Purchase Conservatory of Dance in New York. She went on to dance with Corbindances, Sidra Bell, Kevin Wynn, TakeDance, Yung-li Chen, and Gretchen Garnett & Dancers. She participated in the Bessie Schoneberg Residency at The Yard in 2009, dancing in works by Rachael Lincoln and Joshua Monten. Based in Berlin since 2010, Leah has performed with the Deutsche Oper Berlin and the Staatsoper Berlin, as well as with Leyya Tawil/Dance Elixir, Gretchen Garnett, Ariel Cohen, Liz Magic Laser, Liz Erber and Sally Richter.
Sally Richter completed her BA in dance at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAPPA) in 2005. She has worked with choreographers Chrissie Parrot, Gavin Webber (Dance North), Eun Me-Ahn, Alice Lee Holland, Aimee Smith, Lucy Suggate and Canan Erek with performances in Columbia, South Korea, England, Germany, Austria and Australia. She has choreographed the works Three Lovely Ladies, Private Thought, Public Space, Recoil and Crossed-Wires created for Bachelor’s students at WAAPA. She has been based in Berlin since 2010 where she now works in collaboration with Leah Katz.
