Cooperativa Maura Morales
EpicDermis Stage Design
Latex prints and latex surfaces for the piece ‘EpicDermis’ by Cooperativa Maura Morales
Together with Matthias Krauß.
Das Stück
Humans are homo hapticus. The sense of touch and feel is the first of our senses. Even before we hear, smell and taste, we feel and sense touch.
The skin is man’s largest organ – and at the same time his sensitive boundary between the self and the world. Every touch is both a sign of affection and an indication of potential danger. Every touch tells a story about the familiar and the strange, spells out a haptic vocabulary full of longing, in which the self seeks its place in the world.
The latest production by dancer and choreographer Maura Morales and composer Michio Woirgardt is a border crossing, a dance across the skin, in an intimate and expressive language of movement.
The process
Manfred Borsch asked us if we could create skin-like latex for the piece ‘EpicDermis’ to place on the stage and project onto it, as well as body prints of the dancers.
We also planned for Manfred to film the removal of the latex impressions from the skin in close-up to create visuals for the performance.
The finished prints of the entire body are raw and wild. We have not straightened any edges and only patched the most necessary areas to achieve this very natural look.
Over the course of a day, we took impressions of the dancers. After detailed discussions at the beginning and further preparations, we began to cover each of the ensemble members in one layer of liquid latex after another.
When the resulting latex cover was finally thick enough and completely dry, it could be carefully removed.
A few days later, we were able to continue working on the prints. The holes and cuts had to be repaired with various materials and the latex had to be prepared so that it would survive several months as part of the stage play.
Credits:
Tänzer*innen: Martha Gardner, Kira Metzler, Guila Russo, Dario Rigaglia, Matthew Branham
Konzept/ Regie/Choreographie: Maura Morales
Komposition/Livesampling: Michio Woirgardt
Dramaturgie: René Linke
Assistenz: Matthea Pedersen, Pascal Schmidt
Back-Up Tänzer: Pascal Schmidt
Visuals: Manfred Borsch
Bühnenbild: Manfred Borsch, Maura Morales
Latex Arbeiten: Alexandra Reichart, Matthias Krauß
Kostüme: Marion Strehlow
Lichtdesign/Technische Leitung: Grace Morales Suso
