Essay
Skin to skin
On the history, concept and works of Overhead Project
von Melanie Suchy
Erschienen in: Arbeitsbuch 2022: Circus in flux – Zeitgenössischer Zirkus (07/2022)
Assoziationen: Zirkus
Always as a pair. But you don’t have to stick to it. Well-proven doesn’t mean glued together, and you can change the rules of the game. Overhead Project has changed, fundamentally, yet stayed true to itself. It is one of the distinctive features of the company. It started in 2008 as a label of two acrobats, Tim Behren and Florian Patschovsky; Tim Behren now directs it alone. When the duo moved to Cologne in 2009 and immediately delighted the audience – and the dance critic – at a small dance festival, it was the first time they appeared as a unit. They performed a ten-minute duet from the ensemble piece “[How To Be] Almost There” by the Freiburg ensemble HeadFeedHands. Designated as a production partner of that duet, Overhead Project had settled in the city for geographical and strategic reasons. The idea worked for the two of them – hand to hand, feet on hands and upside down. Behren and Patschovsky collected a number of prizes with their outstanding duo piece “How” – at dance festivals no less! Contemporary dance comes in numerous variations, partly because in its curious, reflective way it tends to pick inspiration and elements from everywhere....
