preparations

People have been fascinated and drawn into Johanna Spyri's story of HEIDI for over 100 years now. Why is it so easy to love this naive, otherwordly positive child, why do we all hate Fräulein Rottenmeier, the cruel gouvernante that tries to teach her how to behave in "normal society"...

We only just started the preparations for this play for children at the Schauspielhaus Basel, but one thing is sure: There have to be goats. Will they be real? Will they have to sing and dance, which means, they will have to be played by actors...


I'll let you know when we are further down that road...
The show will open in November, so there's the whole summer left to research, visiting the original places, designing costumes that match the humour and the yearning of the play...

fascination

 Yesterday, the Minotaurus project premiered. As always before a first night, I get nervous. I tend to run around, making sure, nothing is missed, all clothes prepared, myself prepared, hair done, make up looking good, tickets found, seats reserved, gifts bought, personalized and given, friends informed...

And then the show starts. It's the moment when I finally relax a little, because I know, the dancers/singers/actors will be just fine, doing what they were born to do, enticing us, the audience, into their stories. I get sweaty hands and my heart is racing when difficult passages come up, texts go missing, costume changes are at stake, my ears go big to savour every reaction of the people who see my baby for the very first time - will they love the same bits as I do? Will they laugh when they're supposed to? And every now and then I spot a new thing about this performance that I somehow missed during the last runthroughs...oh, how enjoyable!

And then one of the moments I love most is the time just after the curtain calls, when the performers are still wondering whether to go out another time, when the applause dies slowly and the whole production team is celebrating, hugging and giving kisses - once again, a baby is born and well received. It's that glow on our faces I like, the bubbles of happiness, the bright shining eyes still wide open from adrenaline shooting into the heart...and I love it even better when this survives the after show party, when performers and team are getting their congratulations, their thank yous for being so courages and risking again everything to tell a story, to produce beauty, to share their hearts.

I had a good night, last night.

impulse

impulse
that tiny thing that moves me
that helps me produce
that affects something inside me
could be a picture
could be a poem
could be a person

went to an arts camp last weekend
got very inspired
met lots of artists of all kinds
and who knows where all of this will take me?

meet my most recent impulses:

http://www.myspace.com/torstenharder  Try out his music, he dances on the cello...

Ingo Bracke is an excellent light designer - He did this piece onto a famous rock in Germany...it's a famous german poem, all linked deeply into the german history...

just in front of our house - spring is coming, just hold on...

I've spent a lot of time with this young boy lately and he is so cute and trusting that he makes me smile a lot, even when he's just sleeping. What a mighty impulse someone can have, without even doing something!

A snapshot at the "minotaurus" rehearsals. The musicians joined in now and the power of the live performance is awesome. What a force when people join their creativity to reach a higher impact...But that would be material for a whole new blog :-)

self portrait

so this is who I am now
I present myself with what I do and what I don't do
it's all about actions, they speak louder than words
but then what about the unseen deeds
do you still listen to them, too?
and how would you know about them
when I don't boast but still
they are a defining part of me, too.
so what now, what do you see that cannot be heard
what does my life tell you
about my secrets and hopes, plans and visions
because they make me do stuff
mostly stuff you would notice
but some I'd rather not have seen by anyone...
how about you?

tightrope walking

I am very happy to work in such a wonderful profession - this week I got to start work on a project called "Minotaurus". It tells a story of captivity and victims, of sacrifice and love, all with the help of two tightrope walkers/dancers and one ("regular") dancer.

To get into the story they showed me a runthrough of their piece, and so I was sitting there, watching, transfixed, eyes wide open at how they not only walk on that rope but actually dance.

To provide costumes for them now will be a real challenge - they have to look amazing of course and still be unbreakable :-) The soles on their shoes last for no longer then a week of rehearsing before they lose their grip...

What an exciting world I live in! Obviously I will keep you informed and pictures are soon to follow...

what I was up to...

How to start a blog? I will let you see what I was up to recently and start by publishing some photos of my latest costume design for a play called "The Buddenbrooks - The Decline of a Family" based on the classic German novel by Thomas Mann. It was staged by a group of students from Oberwil near Basel, Switzerland...

It's the story of a family that owns a business and everyone has to submit to that - even the marriages are being selected for the good of the company...three generations sacrifice their personal happiness for the sake of being "a good and strong part of the chain" of ancestors. Makes you think about the benefits of modern society and if we really make our choices as freely as we'd like to think or what your life reflects of your decisions.