Performing Arts Season 2025/26: Showroomdummies #4 in December, Último helecho in Januar
On 5 and 6 December, Gisèle Vienne and Étienne Bideau-Rey will present the German premiere of their dance performance “Showroomdummies #4”at the Haus der Berliner Festspiele, in which six performers encounter life-size dolls. In addition, French-Austrian director Gisèle Vienne invites the audience to a lecture entitled “Composing Sign Systems” on 6 December, followed by a discussion with author and curator Marietta Piekenbrock.
On 24 and 25 January, the international co-production “Último helecho,” a joint creation by director Nina Laisné and French dancer and choreographer François Chaignaud with Argentine singer Nadia Larcher, will be performed at the Festspielhaus. The performance combines dance, music, and singing in extraordinary ways and is also a homage to South American mythologies and baroque fantasies. On 26 January, professional dancers will have the opportunity to participate in François Chaignaud's workshop “Dancing musicalities” at the Tanzfabrik Berlin.
Save the Date
On 28 and 29 November, Berlin-based artist and choreographer LigiaLewis explores the intersections of sound and movement in her new work “Wayward Chant” as figures appear and disappear within a fleetingly sketched choreography. Lewis playfully utilizes the architecture of the Atrium in the Gropius Bau, which also presents the artist's largest solo exhibition to date, “I'M NOT HERE FORRRRR...,” until 18 January.
Inconversation: Ligia Lewis with Nora-Swantje Almes about “Wayward Chant”
ProgrammeBooklet available for download
Dance
Showroomdummies #4
Gisèle Vienne & Étienne Bideau-Rey
German premiere
Fri, 5 December 2025, 7:30 p.m.
Sat, 6 December 2025, 7:30 p.m.
Haus der Berliner Festspiele, Main Stage
World premiere: 8 February 2020, ROHM Theatre Kyoto, in collaboration with DACM – Compagnie Gisèle Vienne
Six performers and life-size dolls – living creatures and inanimate objects – come together in “Showroomdummies #4”. The dance performance by GisèleVienne and ÉtienneBideau-Rey explores images of femininity and power structures, challenging viewers to question their perception of the embodied and the disembodied, of presence and absence. In the installation setting of the work, light, space, and sound interact with the slowed-down choreography, allowing the entire system of signs to function as a composition. This perceptive experience is composed in dialogue with original music by Peter Rehberg, a pioneer of electronic music in the 1990s and founder of the cult label Editions Mego.
For more than 20 years, the concept of “Showroomdummies” has been running through Gisèle Vienne’s oeuvre like a common thread. Together with Étienne Bideau-Rey, she continues to vary and restage the performance – with each version constituting an autonomous work with a specific focus. The original version, premiered in 2001, took Leopold von Sacher-Masoch’s 1870 novella “Venus in Furs” and Gilles Deleuze’s 1971 essay analysis “Masochism: Coldness and Cruelty” as its point of departure, as well as his reflections on the art of suspense, suspension and subversion. Furthermore, Japanese horror films served as an aesthetic reference for the dolls. “Showroomdummies #4” is the latest version of the series and, after its premiere at the ROHM Theatre Kyoto in 2020, was most recently shown at the Festival d'Automne at the Centre Pompidou in Paris in 2021.
Lecture and discussion: “Composing Sign Systems”
Sat, 6 December 2025, 5:30–6:30 p.m.
Haus der Berliner Festspiele, Upper Foyer, Free admission
In German with translation into English
Puppets are an indispensable element of Gisèle Vienne's work. In her lecture “Composing Sign Systems”, she describes the role these figures play in her work. Her dialogue partner is Marietta Piekenbrock, an author, curator and art manager who has followed and promoted Vienne’s work for many years.
In her essay “Silenceof the Puppets,” Marietta Piekenbrock analyzes how systems of violence are negotiated in “Showroomdummies” and what connects the performance with surrealism.
Gisèle Vienne is a Franco-Austrian artist, choreographer, theatre and film director. From an early age, she was trained in visual arts by Dorothéa Vienne-Pollak, studied dance and music, and later philosophy and puppeteering at École Supérieure Nationale des Arts de la Marionnette. Over the past 20 years, her work has toured in Europe and has regularly
been performed in Asia and America. Her photographs and installations have been exhibited in numerous renowned museums. In 2020 she staged a fourth version of “Showroomdummies” with Étienne Bideau-Rey at ROHM Theatre Kyoto, which they have been continuously developing in independent productions since 2001.
Gisèle Vienne is a Franco-Austrian artist, choreographer, theatre and film director. From an early age, she was trained in visual arts by Dorothéa Vienne-Pollak, studied dance and music, and later philosophy and puppeteering at École Supérieure Nationale des Arts de la Marionnette. Over the past 20 years, her work has toured in Europe and has regularly
been performed in Asia and America. Her photographs and installations have been exhibited in numerous renowned museums. In 2020 she staged a fourth version of “Showroomdummies” with Étienne Bideau-Rey at ROHM Theatre Kyoto, which they have been continuously developing in independent productions since 2001.
A production of ROHM Theatre Kyoto
With the support of Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels and the Agency for Cultural Affairs, Government of Japan, through the Japan Arts Council
In collaboration with DACM
In cooperation with Kyoto Art Center
Presented by ROHM Theatre Kyoto / Kyoto City Music Art and Cultural Promoting Foundation
Dance
Último helecho
Nina Laisné and François Chaignaud with Nadia Larcher
Sat, 24 January 2026, 8:00 p.m.
Sun, 25 January 2026, 6:00 p.m.
Haus der Berliner Festspiele, Main Stage
World premiere: 19 July 2025, ImPulsTanz, Vienna
The international co-production “Último helecho” is carried equally by music, song, and dance, bringing together baroque with South American folklore and mythology. This poetic-fabulous performance transports the audience to lost worlds of the past, while at the same time being characterized by vitality and energetic dances.
NinaLaisné, who is also a filmmaker and visual artist, is in charge of music, stage direction and scenography. While professional dancer FrançoisChaignaud also sings on stage, NadiaLarcher – celebrated as a singer in South America – will try out the folklore dances of her native lands together with him for the first time. The multifaceted repertoire of traditional music and dances from Argentina – ranging from chacareras via the majestic zambas to the huaynos – will serve as the underpinnings of the performance. The duo will be accompanied live on stage by six musicians.
“Último helecho” confronts and combines aesthetic practices from Europe and South America, evoking the joint history of both continents – a history that is also one of marginalization and exploitation.
Workshop with François Chaignaud: “Dancing musicalities”
Mon, 26 January 2026, 10:00 a.m.–1:00 p.m.
Tanzfabrik, Studio 4
“Último helecho” navigates viewers through various practices and reference systems – including Argentine folklore and Baroque mythologies. In the workshop “Dancing musicalities”, suited for professional dancers, François Chaignaud will explore various choreographic and rhythmic coordinates together with the participants, drawing not only on elements from the performance but also on other references.
Registration is via Tanzfabrik Berlin.
Nina Laisné, after graduating in photography and video from the Bordeaux Academy of Fine Arts in 2009, studied traditional Argentinian music with guitarist Miguel Garau – her desire to blend film, music and contemporary art emerged. She takes a special interest in marginals advancing on the borders of official history, as well as in oral traditions in the aftermath of an uprooting. Her projects have been shown in exhibitions, cinemas, and at festivals in several countries.
François Chaignaud graduated from the National Superior Conservatory of Paris for Music and Dance and has collaborated since then with numerous choreographers, including Alain Buffard, Boris Charmatz, Emmanuelle Huynh and Gilles Jobin. Since 2004, he has taken up a multiplicity of roles as dancer, choreographer, singer, actor, historian and cabaret artist. His work – which weaves for dance the aspiration of a comprehensive expression delving into the porosity and potential of bodies – has been characterized since early on by the articulation of singing and dance. With a degree in history, he nourishes his art with in-depth research.
Nadia Larcher is a singer and composer of Argentine popular music. Her musical training was entirely self-taught. Having learned to sing from her grandparents, she was involved in the folklore of her region from an early age and, at the age of ten, began intense musical activity in northwest Argentina, 2011 she graduated as a language and literature teacher. Larcher has collaborated with important figures in contemporary Argentine music, including Juan Falú, Juan Quintero, Teresa Parodi, Liliana Herrero, Lito Vitale, and Diego Schissi.
Executive Production by Zorongo in association with Mandorle Productions
Zorongo is supported by the Ministère de la Culture – DRAC Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. Nina Laisné is an associate artist at the Quartz – Scène nationale de Brest and at the Grand R – Scène nationale de La Roche-sur-Yon.
Mandorle Productions is supported by the Ministère de la Culture – DRAC Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and the Région Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. François Chaignaud is an associate artist at Chaillot – Théâtre national de la Danse, as well as the Maison de la danse and the Biennale de la danse de Lyon.
Co-produced by Berliner Festspiele, Théâtre de Liège, Les 2 Scènes – Scène nationale de Besançon, Le Quartz – Scène nationale de Brest, Maison de la danse / Pôle européen de création, en soutien à la Biennale de Lyon, PACT Zollverein, Festival d’Automne à Paris, Chaillot – Théâtre national de la Danse, Théâtre de la Ville – Paris, Théâtre Auditorium de Poitiers, Dans in December Brugge, Le Grand R – Scène Nationale La Roche-sur-Yon, Charleroi Danse – Centre chorégraphique de Wallonie-Bruxelles, Opéra de Limoges, Julidans Amsterdam, Le Manège, scène nationale – Reims, La Comédie de Clermont – Clermont Ferrand, Malraux scène nationale Chambéry Savoie, MC2: Maison de la Culture de Grenoble – Scène Nationale, Bonlieu Scène nationale Annecy, Château Rouge – Scène conventionnée Annemasse, Theater Freiburg, Oriente occidente, Théâtre Vidy-Lausanne, Festival Musica, Strasbourg, Maillon, Théâtre de Strasbourg – Scène européenne, POLE-SUD, CDCN Strasbourg, La Filature – Scène nationale, Mulhouse, théâtre Garonne – Scène européenne – Toulouse
The show is supported by Tax Shelter of the Belgian Federal Government and the Inver Tax Shelter.
With the support of Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels
Press Contact
Sara Franke, Anna Hinz
+49 30 254 89 269 / 132
presse@berlinerfestspiele.de