Cuqui Jerez

When Spanish performance artist Cuqui Jerez enters the theater, things seem to go awry: spotlights take on a life of their own, performers struggle with stage sets, and music suddenly kicks in. This is also the case in her latest work, SUGAR ISLAND, in which a ballet dancer is stranded on a strange island in Lake Erie, Ohio. This island (and, as always with Cuqui Jerez, the entire set) is alive, has its own laws, and makes the dancer’s poses and phrases seem increasingly absurd. The result is a living work of performance art with surprising, technically virtuosic stage effects, characterized by an anarchic disregard for the established rules of theater. Following her devious anti-musical MAGICAL AND ELASTIC at the 2022 Summer Festival, the stage artist — who is also trained in classical ballet — returns to Hamburg to further develop SUGAR ISLAND at Kampnagel with her team during a rehearsal residency, using the theatrical lubricant that defines her work: humor.