In »MoonJar,« choreographer and performer Kat Válastur and musician Aho Ssan create a poetic interplay of sound and movement, shaped as an intense performative liturgy. Inspired by ancient creation myths and the materiality of clay, they transform the theater into a resonant vessel.
Within this mythical space, Kat Válastur performs a ritual of renewal. Like an exhumator, she lifts magical ceramic objects that resemble relics and bones, crafted by the ceramist Latika Nehra, bringing them into the light one by one. Her movements spiral and circle, tracing arcs that echo the cycles of the moon and the helical twists of DNA. The choreography flows with the relics and the echoes they carry, resonating with the sounds and voices of the planet’s first inhabitants. Through this interaction, a transformation occurs in which a new presence emerges over time – a new body that seeks to restore balance and heal ecological wounds.
The performance resonates through the immersive music of Aho Ssan, the musical nuances of Válastur’s vocals, alongside a circular vibrating metallic instrument that defines the ritual space. The work features music by Sam Slater and Jakob Vasak, enriching the immersive soundscape in which Kat Válastur’s instinctive choreography weaves together the archaic and the contemporary. »MoonJar« signals renewal, becoming a vessel of radical potential for a new and better world.
Concept, choreography, performance and vocals: Kat Válastur
Music, composition: Aho Ssan (featuring Sam Slater & Jakob Vasak)
Ceramic artist: Latika Nehra
Outside eye: Michalis Agelidis & Maria Tzika
Light design & technical direction: Martin Beeretz
Set design: Louis Casper Schmitt
Creative producer: Saskia Schoenmaker
Production assistent: Katharina Fischer
A co-production by HAU Hebbel am Ufer, Fonds Transfabrik - French-German Fund for the Performing Arts, CTM Festival, CNN Centre Chorégraphique National de Grenoble. Funded by Hauptstadtkulturfonds, and supported by: Institut français Germany as part of the residency programme of Cité internationale des arts in Paris.