as part of NOW REALLY?

07.12. – 09.12.2023

The FFT nourishes longstanding connections to artists in Düsseldorf, in Germany, and throughout the world. But how does a new work enter the repertoire? The west off and Freischwimmen programmes play an important part in this. west off lends support to new groups from North Rhine-Westphalia just starting out on the independent scene. The network provided by Freischwimmen works in a very similar way – on an international level, and it has been doing that for the past 20 years.

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Milena Cestao Kolbowski

Ay Papi Ay Mami

Performance Music & Sound Theatre & Performance

Warning! Explicit content. Ay Papi Ay Mami deconstructs the most captivating earworms and disassembles the elements that turned them into hits: Melody, beats, moves, and fussy celebrity behaviour. Under the cloak remain misogynist, violent, and power-possessed lyrics. From the deconstructed elements emerges a new composition made of music, movement, and language that lets the audience critically reflect on their own favourite music, conducting research for a feminist alternative.

cast

Milena Cestao Kolbowski is a freelance physical theatre performer, theatre maker, and choreographer. She grew up in Italy, Spain, and Germany. Collectively or solo, she tackles feminist themes with which she deals in works at the intersections of physical theatre and performance art while constantly experimenting with new artistic devices, used to transport her social concerns onto the stage.
The focus of her work lies in the humorous abstraction and disassociation of phenomena and taboos. She graduated from her physical theatre studies at the Folkwang University of the Arts in 2022. Since then, she has been contributing to municipal theatre productions as well as working within the independent scene (Schauspiel Düsseldorf, Theater Dortmund, and elsewhere), while also touring her solo “Furia” (Oval Office Bochum, HundertPro Festival, and elsewhere). In AY MAMI AY PAI, she collaboratively works with an interdisciplinary team.

Artistic Direction: Milena Cestao Kolbowski (she/her). Sound & Music: Katrin Meier (she/her), Lukas Becker (any pronouns). Costumes, Stage: Elena Blazquez (she/her). Performance: Milena Cestao Kolbowski, Katrin Meier, Lukas Becker. Production Assistance, Dramaturgy: Andrina Imboden (she/no pronouns). Mentoring: Morgan Nardi, Outside Eye: t.b.a.

credits

Production: Milena Cestao Kolbowski; Coproduction: FFT
west off receives support from the Cultural Departments of the Cities of Bonn, Düsseldorf, and Cologne as well as from the Ministry for Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia.