How can a young woman find her own self under the many veiling and protective layers that surround her? A play about identity, freedom, the "other" that is inherent in us - and about female complicité across generational and cultural boundaries.


At the beginning there is a doll-like, strongly veiled dark silhouette. What lives and pulsates there under the cocoon of protective layers that are also a prison? Expectations, dreams and longings are transformed into energy. Little by little movement unfolds, envelopes fall and with them the bonds. A young woman searches for expression and discovers the potential that lies within her body.

She is not alone. Sometimes close up, sometimes from a distance, at first twin-like, then distinctly different, a second figure observes and accompanies her development along the way, taking part as a shadow, mirror image and alter ego, perhaps memory, projection or simply a friend. The complicity and wordless communication between the two so different women is an expression of female solidarity that transcends boundaries of any kind.

With Layaz, the editta braun company explores unknown territory and links its artistic exploration and development with the question of identity, freedom and the "other" inherent in each of us. In Cat Jimenez, experienced in urban dance and the discipline of "battle", an originally deeply masculine and strongly coded aesthetic is combined with feminist contemporary dance. Editta Braun returns to the stage after many years with the assumption of the background role.


«Layaz»

premiere: 4 October 2019 SZENE Salzburg

new edition 14 October 2020, SZENE Salzburg


dance, performance, choreography: Cat Jimenez

alter ego: Editta Braun

(2nd cast: Pascale Staudenbauer)

coaching: Martyna Lorenc

idea, artistic direction: Editta Braun

composition: Thierry Zaboitzeff

dramaturgy: Gerda Poschmann-Reichenau

light design: Thomas Hinterberger

tailors: Lili Brit Pfeiffer, Janett Sumbera

length: ca. 50 minutes

co-production: L'Estruch Sabadell, Fábrica de creación (Spain)

technical rider - download here

Cat Jimenez

Vienna-based artist Cat Jimenez was born in 1986 in Cebu City, Philippines, and moved to Austria with her family at the age of four. With her background in fine art and street dance, she combines in her work the expressive fullness of hip-hop culture and the minimalist aesthetics of contemporary art. Since 2015 Cat Jimenez is mainly active in theater. She worked u. a. with Hungry Sharks, Cie. Gervasi, Studio Nita, Jungle Vienna and performed at festivals like Sound: Frame, Danube Festival, Danza Bolzano. https://whadupcat.tumblr.com



Editta Braun

* 1958 in Austria, pioneer of contemporary choreography in Austria. Academic degree in Science of Sports and German Language and Literature (University of Salzburg). Studied dance in Paris and New York, teaches at the University of Salzburg and at the Anton Bruckner Private University Linz. Has created more than 30 productions (physical theater, dance) and tours world-wide with her company. Characteristics: intercultural collaborations, politically engaged, feminist view on society and theater. International Prize of Arts and Culture of the City of Salzburg in 2014, Great Prize of Arts of the Region of Salzburg 2017.



Thierry Zaboitzeff

* 1953 in Northern France, co-founder, composer and style-defining protagonist of the avant-garde rock formation ART ZOYD, world tours. FSince 1995 solo and group-formation projects. Freelance composer and musician for film, dance, theater, events. Release of 52 albums, 19 of them with Art Zoyd albums. www.zaboitzeff.org




Pascale Staudenbauer

* in Salzburg, Pascale Staudenbauer studied contemporary dance at the Art Academy ArtEZ Arnhem (NL). Since 2008 member of Toihaus Ensemble Salzburg. As a freelance dancer, she worked u. a. with T'eig Theater and Hubert Lepka. Pascale is a certified yoga teacher with integrated Spiraldynamik® Basic training and teaches Vinyasa Yoga and dance in Salzburg.

www.PascaleStaudenbauer.com

Layaz

The critics appreciated the theme of the search for true identity, "which does not only concern the dancer, Cat Jimenez, personally, but many people, whether they have left their country of birth, their cultural space, voluntarily or forced, out of need or adventurousness".


But also the aesthetic risk of entering new territory "between free, contemporary dance and the rules of urban dance - battle or ballet" is appreciated: "Exciting, as in the performance developed jointly by dancer Cat Jimenez and choreographer Editta Braun, the languages of movement replace each other. It is exciting to see how the stylised image of the conventionally suppressed becomes an image of the self-confident modern woman. A small - only fifty-minute - but fine work that Editta Braun gave herself and the audience in her thirties of her company in the Salzburg scene."

(Heidemarie Klabacher, DrehPunktKultur)

Photos: Bettina Frenzel, Christian Fuchs