Avec "Radical Minimal", la compagnie berlinoise Christoph Winkler souhaite développer de nouvelles perspectives sur l'interaction entre la musique minimale, la danse contemporaine et la diversité. Pour ce faire, trois morceaux connus de la musique minimale, classiquement lus de manière abstraite, seront explorés et réinterprétés à l'aide de chorégraphies propres et thématiques : "Come Out" de Steve Reich, "Coming Together" de Frederic Rzewski et "Stay on it" de Julius Eastman. Le développement des chorégraphies s'appuie sur l'histoire de la réception des pièces en musique et en danse, ainsi que sur leur lien avec le mouvement américain des droits civiques.

L'exemple de Steve Reich illustre particulièrement bien cette approche thématique : "Come out" transforme le témoignage d'un jeune homme afro-américain arrêté lors des émeutes de Harlem en 1964 et victime de violences policières. La composition déforme de plus en plus sa voix par un laying sonore progressif et anticipe ainsi également la multiplication médiatique de destins individuels tragiques, que le public d'aujourd'hui connaît bien dans le contexte de Black Lives Matter. Dans la chorégraphie d'A.T. Kersmaeker, la pièce est devenue un classique de la danse contemporaine, qui a toutefois tendance à masquer la thématique du texte original. Dans "Radical Minimal", le contexte d'origine sera rendu plus visible par une nouvelle adaptation en collaboration avec Adebajo Oluwafemi Israel et Rasheed Ridwan de la compagnie nigériane The Future of Dance Company.

Les trois compositions seront combinées dans "Radical Minimal" pour une performance live commune avec le Zafraan Ensemble et d'autres musiciens internationaux invités, dans laquelle un langage chorégraphique propre à chaque pièce sera développé. En outre, une version cinématographique élargie est prévue pour un public plus large.

Christoph Winkler is one of the most versatile choreographers in  Germany. His work covers a wide range of formats and deals with topics  both of a very personal nature as well as highly political contributions  to current social discourse. 

Born in Torgau in the former GDR, he was a multiple Spartakiad winner  in the disciplines weightlifting and judo as a teenager. He then  studied martial arts and breakdance, before being accepted at the  National Ballet School in Berlin. After the fall of the wall, he danced  in video productions for MTV and worked as a bodyguard and construction  worker. In the early 1990’s, he performed in underground techno clubs.  Then he studied choreography for four years at the prestigious School  for Drama “Ernst Busch“ and founded Klangkrieg Productions, a platform  for experimental music. Under this label, he produce work by numerous  acclaimed musicians such as the Venetian Snares or Current Value. At the  same time, he also curated the festival AvantPop and organized parties  and concerts e.g. for the Fuckparade. 

After graduating from the Ernst Busch in 1998, he consciously chose  to continue working as an independent choreographer in Berlin. Right  from the start, he received much critical acclaim and numerous  invitations to festivals for his innovative dance style and minimalist,  rigorously composed, discursive dance dramas. 

In 2007, he founded the agency BERLIN GOGOS with "ehrliche arbeit –  freelance office for culture” as a way to commercially market  contemporary dance and address the economic situation of contemporary  dancers today. 

His works consistently deal with topics that reference issues  currently discussed in society at large, but that also directly pertain  to and affect the art form of dance. 

Recent works are: “Dance! Copy! Right?” (2012) about copyright in  art, especially in dance, “RechtsRadikal” about neo-Nazi women and “The  True Face – Dance Is Not Enough”, an entertaining overview of protest  art forms, both 2013. The solo “Baader – A Choreography of  Radicalisation” was invited to the German Dance Platform in 2012 and  dancer Martin Hansen was named Dance of the Year by the German leading  dance journal “tanz” that same year for his role in the piece. In 2014,  Winkler produced the solo “Hauptrolle” with Ahmed Soura from Burkina  Faso about the role of people of color on German stages, as well as the  dance heritage Tanzfonds Erbe piece “Abendliche Tänze” about the  subjective process of memory. That same year “The True Face” won the  FAUST Prize of the Deutsche Bühnenverein in the category “Best  Choreography”; it was the first time that this prize was awarded to a  piece produced entirely outside the German municipal and state theater  system. 

In spring 2015, he created the very intimate solo “La Fille- Portrait  of a Child” together with Emma Daniel, in which Christoph Winkler  reflected on his relationship with his own daughter, followed by “Golden  Stars on Blue” about the European comunity and its symbolism. In 2016,  he produced a series of shorter pieces  entitled „Studies on  Postcolonialism“ questions white dominance in an art form that prides  itself in its internationalism. That same year, he was once again  present at the FAUST awards, when Aloalii Tapu was named „Best Dancer“  for the solo „Urban Sou Café“ . In addition, he also initiated a  co-curated „The Witch Dance Project“ with Franziska Werner/Sophiensaele.  In 2017, within three months, he premiered five new pieces: an ensemble  project, two new solos, his first work for younger audiences, and his  first collaboration with the Cantus Domus Chor. For CTM 2018, he will  present the wide-ranging project „The Complete Expressionist“, a tribute  in music and dance to the multifaceted pioneer and pedagogue Ernest  Berk. 

In the last years he has performed with great success some musically inspired productions such as “Julius Eastman – Speak Boldly” or “We Are Going To Mars”. 

In 2020 Christoph Winkler was awarded one of the Tabori and in 2022 he received the Deutschen Tanzpreis.

In May 2022 he received the German Dance Award, the highest award for dance professionals in Germany.