Academy

Laura Waltz

Fellow

Laura Waltz is a Berlin-based performer focused on on movement research and puppetry/object theatre. Educated in dance, acting, and puppetry/objecttheatre, she explores the possibilities for meaning through/of movement and interdisciplinarity. She is interested in their combination on stage as an extension of traditional expressive power and in how these different forms can feed and influence each other within the creative process. She experiments both with her own body as an instrument as well as the animation of external performative materials, the merging or the separation of those, and all the possibilities that lie in between. In doing so, she questions the resulting effects as echoes of dramaturgical choices.

This performative focus and creative process has become the core of her work. As such, she appeared in the leading role in the inclusive production "VOM UMTAUSCH AUSGESCHLOSSEN" (D. M. Couturier) at Thikwa Theatre (invited to PAF 2021), where she danced, acted, and used puppets. Furthermore, she continued guest performances as a dancer and choreography assistant at "SpeeDance Project" (curated by T. Zirkilevich and E. Starke) at Dock 11 in July 2022.

Laura wrestles with content that deals with feminism and inclusion, as well as experiments with and positions herself against hypersexualisation and objectification of the female body, patriarchal dynamics and their persecution, foreign appropriation of bodies, discrimination against women and FLINTA* individuals, and more. Through this work, she met artist Nora Amin and became a guest dancer at Sophiensaele in Nora's solo "My Dance" (Festival White Money by FLINN WORKS, 2021), as well as a performer/dancer in the creation "Re-Rooting" also by and with N. Amin, with duos and solo scenes (cofinanced by Tanzfabrik, supported by Prozessförderung, #TAKEHEART) at Theater Oyoun - Kultur NeuDenken in Sept. 2022. Diving deeper into these themes, and passionate about exploring the basis of feminist/sociological theses on witch-hunting and current social manifestations of it, she conducted her research project entitled "Own my Body?" in Autumn 2022 (Residency Funding for Graduates/NeuStartKultur/Fonds Darstellende Künste, as part of #TAKEHEART, supported by Kampnagel). This exploration became a physical research project on the freedom of the female body within a patriarchal society, translated into a stage context. Her main questions included: "Is the associative space on stage only an extension of social patriarchal attributions? Or can I ultimately determine the sexualisation or nonsexualisation of my body on stage?".

From August till December 2022, she collaborated as a dancer/performer in the residency 'AR Magic Loop' at Dock11 and performed during DOCKDigital's "OPEN LAB" in four different projects as a dancer/digital dancer ("Persona" and “Organism” by Baris Pekcağlıyan and Katrine Bregnum, as well as in the digital movement research "body parts {con}fusion" (performance + concept) with Nora Krahl and her mentor Beka Tcharbadze.

Most recently, Laura acted in the VR-Oper “Am Ende der Welt”, directed and composed by Nora Krahl, as well as danced in the inclusive production "Herzen. ZWISCHEN. Vulkanen" by Karina Suárez Bosche. This dance creation, which premiered in TAK in the frame of the "Special Olympics Berlin 2023” received the 3rd prize “Berlin Prevention Award 2023” from Berlin State Commission against Violence and the Berlin Senate. Laura started in September 2023 her fellowship at the Academy for Theatre and Digitality with a Movement Research, using MoCap technology to explore the aliveness possibilities of avatars through animation principles from puppetry.