Between Riot & Choir

a liminal jaunt: an excursion across space and through time, nothing more and nothing less

As part of SOCIETY: OR INFINITE REHEARSALS, we present Between Riot and Choir – a series of interconnected solo performances in which dance and movement-based practitioners consider and respond to the conceptual proposals of this exhibition and research project. The performance series, which takes its title from a text by Fred Moten on the social nature of dance and movement, materialises the connections and histories that each dancing body, even when it dances alone, is inevitably linked to.

We think here about specific cultural traditions of movement; choreographies learned through and via the particular abilities of a body; somatic practices, contact improvisation – and overall, the relationality built into dancing alongside another (or anothers) in groups that might move with the asymmetrical, turbulent rhythm of a riot or protest as well the harmony of a choir.

In his performance "a liminal jaunt: an excursion across space and through time, nothing more and nothing less", Djibril Sall drops pretenses of perfection and of polish in a journey through the space of SAVVY Contemporary. Tapping into a language of (black/african/f*g/however you perceive him) improvisation, he explores what it is to just, receive. And reciprocate.

Djibril Sall is a queer Senegalese performer, choreographer, and writer. He was selected for inclusion in Tanz im August’s Interconnecting Ecology and Dance Series in 2023 and was furthermore an invited artist for Tanznacht’s 25 year anniversary. His most recent evening length work, evening.haiku, premiered at Sophiensaele as a part of the 31st Tanztage Festival and it was chosen for inclusion in the 2022 [8:Tension] Young Choreographers Series at ImPulsTanz International Vienna Dance Festival. He has presented and performed works at Ballhaus Ost and radialsystem in Berlin and in various festivals and institutions including Stedelijk in Amsterdam, DARK MOFO in Australia, and Centre Pompidou in Paris. He was the 2024 Berlin Cultural Exchange Fellow at Cite International des Arts in Paris and now he is an inaugural resident at Emerging Change Festival where he is developing a new solo to be premiered at Sophiensaele in Berlin, and Dansens Hus in Oslo among others for his work on queer and racial trauma. He has worked with artists such as Jeremy Shaw, Sorour Darabi, Gaelle Choisne, Frank Willens, Constantin Hartenstein, Vladimir Miller, Michele Rizzo, Laure Heindl, Yanna Thonnes, and now, Bishop Black. He is currently developing a new solo to be premiered in 2025. At Ballhaus Naunynstraße, Djibril can be seen as a performer in Flight of the Canaries (2023) by Bishop Black.