Moritz Ostruschnjak

«It won’t be like this forever» – this is what the sign says that choreographer Moritz Ostruschnjak carries across the stage, while dancer Daniel Conant performs a Schuhplattler for an audience which is properly seated according to the new Corona guidelines. The thirty-minute solo NWEISUNGEN (dance instructions) is full of self-reflective and ironic references that defy any specific definition.

Ostruschnjak remains true to the eclectic style of his latest productions and allows his soloist to transition effortlessly from a Schuhplattler to a grand jeté, from boxing footwork to break dance moves and from a référence to the jump rope; the common element is the sound, the pounding, clapping, breathing, jumping, bouncing that fills the space as a consistent rhythm. As if he had been wound up, the protagonist tirelessly works his way through the extremely diverse canon of movement, assuming poses of resistance, combat and victory, stylized masculinity, youth culture, classic ballet, ballroom dancing and sports in rapid succession – an absurd sequence of divergent elements that overdraw, ironize and contradict each other and that, in combination, playfully yet relentlessly lead into an abyss. Accordingly, the piece ends with DAF’s provocative song Der Mussolini, a literal dance instruction – «dance the Mussolini, dance the Adolf Hitler, dance the Jesus Christus…»