Originally they were only there to support their team, to cheer on the fans with their choreography, their acrobatics and their pompoms: the cheerleaders. In the meantime, a sport of its own has developed from this somewhat backward sideline entertainment and also a form of political protest, “radical cheerleading”, which emerged in the 1990s in queer-feminist actions. Dance as protest – this is the idea that Zufit Simon took up in her performance “Radical Cheerleading”. What is it worth taking to the streets for today? What forms and aesthetics are there for this? These are the questions that the 70-minute piece addresses. The result is a “successful Munich production”, a “real hit”. At least that is how the curators of “Rodeo”, the Munich festival for dance, theater and performance, see it. Consequently, “Radical Cheerleading” will open the seven-day festival of the independent scene on October 9th. Advance sales began on September 1st.
“Rodeo” takes place every two years, and the city of Munich has again placed the eighth edition in the hands of the Theater HochX team, as in 2022 and already agreed for 2026. “I experience the team as a source of inspiration and networker for the independent scene,” said cultural representative Anton Biebl at the presentation of the program in July. The festival is funded with just over 300,000 euros per edition – that is taxpayers’ money that is spent and for which Hoch X also has to justify itself, said Biebl. He is sure “that it will happen like that.” The festival can be seen at ten different venues, and ticket prices range from six to 30 euros, depending on what your wallet can afford.
Antonia Beermann and Ute Gröbel, the two artistic directors of HochX, curated the program together with Anna Donderer. For a year and a half, they “live-screened” 100 projects, said Beermann. They selected twelve, across the board, from different forms, ages and levels of fame. For the first time, there are two productions for young audiences. Beermann sees the following as a connecting element: “It’s about the body, it’s about touch, and it’s also about becoming permeable again.” How bodies are treated is a political question. During the screening process, it was striking how strong the Munich scene is, taking aesthetic risks on the one hand and remaining very approachable on the other. Nationwide, however, the production structures in Munich are lagging behind, Beermann summed up. “That’s why the independent scene doesn’t have the visibility it deserves.”
“Rodeo” provides visibility. The energy with which the scene comes together here was already noticeable at the press conference, where the performers, directors and choreographers presented some of their projects themselves. For example, there is Ines Hollinger, who developed “Heimsuchung” together with Theresa Scheitzenhammer, a solo performance or a “one-woman horror show”. Hollinger plays the creature reduced to motherhood for 50 minutes. It begins in a fitted kitchen, where Hollinger, masked beyond recognition with all kinds of bandages, scratches at her existence, leads via baby cries and a bright pink outfit to a child’s birthday party and the sledgehammer (October 12, Einstein Kultur).
Judith Huber and Angelika Kautzenberger are moving into a different area of care with “The Ultimate Caregivers Playlist”. Together with two senior citizens and four nursing staff, they are devoting themselves to the topic of care, self-care and welfare (October 13th and 15th, Pathos Theater). In “Blackouts” by the “service not included” collective, the audience can participate with their own bodies: the audience is given pedometers and collects energy through their walking to unlock the individual chapters of the performance (October 9th, Pathos Theater).
“Blackouts” is one of the three long productions of “Rodeo” with a duration of five hours. “Bo Burnham vs. Jeff Bezos” is scheduled to last around four hours. It is a digital work by Melina Dressler and Thalia Schoeller, in which they use the YouTube video of the same name as a basis, but ultimately contrast isolation with collective experience (October 12th and 13th, Schwere Reiter). The only guest performance of “Rodeo”, “Nachtstück N°5” by O-Team, lasts the longest at around eleven hours. The audience spends the night in the theater – in this case in the Mucca. Everyone has their own bed, there is object theater, concerts, art installations and states between dreaming and waking. The show concludes with a shared breakfast (October 9th, 11th and 12th).
Also invited to the festival are the world premiere of “Transfigured” by the duo Rykena/Jüngst (8th, 10th and 11th October, HochX), “Orakel” by Caner Akdeniz (performance, 11th and 12th October, Schwere Reiter), Lulu Obermayer with “Death Valley Junction” (performance, 13th October, HochX), Sahra Huby with “Hey Körper?!” (performance for ages eight and up, 13th, 14th and 15th October, State Museum of Egyptian Art), Alfredeo Zinola Productions with “Things at the End of the World” (dance performance for ages two and up, 14th and 15th October, HochX) and Léonard Engel with “Orchids” (dance, 14th and 15th October, Schwere Reiter).
Rodeo, Dance, Theatre and Performance Festival Munich, 9 to 15 October, various locations, www.rodeofestival.de