Premiere of “Hot Walk” at the Düsseldorf FFT

The Treadmill of Life

Düsseldorf · The performance “Hot Walk” by Keren Levi celebrates its premiere at the Forum Freies Theater (FFT). The evening was also a challenge for the audience.

By Marion Meyer

Two women are walking in a park. They are talking about a third woman and reciting the text that she has written for them (at the beginning the computer keyboard is clattering in the background). Everything is appearance, nothing is reality. The two performers are only walking on treadmills, and in the background videos create the illusion of a park in spring sunshine.

They speak English, their native language, because that is how the author intended. The performance and text are by choreographer Keren Levi. The fact that the treadmills on which Esther Mugambi and Hillary Blake Firestone move without moving from one spot to the next are called "treadmills" in English adds an additional touch: the two are on the treadmill of life.

The green-silver shimmering overalls make them seem foreign: like aliens, the two move through this changing world, taking turns telling the story of a woman and her children who go on an excursion when depression overcomes the woman. A sandstorm visualizes this inner turmoil. Again and again in the story, the levels cross between topics that superficially have nothing to do with one another: menopause and global warming, postpartum depression and storms , the heat of anger with doom. Keren Levi, who lives and works in Amsterdam and is known for cross-media performances, combines supposed women's issues with environmental issues, the internal and external climate in an interesting way. Climate change , signs of aging and parenthood overlap in unusual ways.

The women's walking turns into jogging, then into dancing. Sometimes they stagger, then they stride or hop sideways. Words turn into singing, singing turns into rap, everything flows into one another. A gestural dance develops in which the two stretch their arms up like trees and touch each other again and again. The tempo picks up, the beats stomp to the sounds of synthesizers (music: Tom Parkinson).

The background changes from a park to a labyrinth from which the two cannot find their way. Doom is looming. A mother seal's efforts to protect her baby from a hunter are just as futile as those of Mother Nature, who cannot help us. The split screen now shows an apocalyptic journey along burning forests and houses, with foggy avenues and deserted streets in between.

It is difficult to make sense of everything, and a discussion with the audience would actually be useful at every performance. Especially since the complex text, the philosophical quintessence, comes much too quickly (from the tape) at the end, so that it is difficult to grasp. The two performers have meanwhile set out into the hostile nature in orange protective suits and gas masks. It seems questionable whether there is any hope for them.