Anand Dhanakoti

In his latest work, Hamburg-based Tamil choreographer Anand Dhanakoti links German breathing with the Sanskrit term Ātman. This refers not only to the breath itself, but also to the soul and the body's unchanging memories. For Anand's international team, living with polluted air in the cities of their countries of origin is an everyday normality.

The bodies' memories of this experience are the starting point for an artistic search for traces, in which breathing rituals from yoga and Kalaripayattu, whose forms imitate the breathing rhythms of animals, function as culturally coded practices of remembrance. From a decolonial perspective, the focus is also on the right to clean air and the ecological imbalance caused by the outsourcing of industrial complexes to the Global South.

An immersive structure is created on the Kampnagel stage, giving Hamburg a glimpse of what it means when breathing clean air cannot be taken for granted. The choreography is embedded in a scenario of futuristic aesthetics, soundscapes, light pulses, and wandering fields of scent. Encountering this sensory-charged space creates a direct physical experience that opens up new forms of accessibility to the audience.