MYCELIA
Collaboration with Minako Seki, Wolfgang A. Piontek and Commedia Futura.
MYCELIA is a dance-theatre work that explores the forest as a living and interconnected organism. Inspired by underground mycelial networks, the piece connects body, nature, transformation and mythology through movement and a visual world in constant change.
Marjorie Chau took part as a creative collaborator, contributing to the visual development of the work.
Details
MYCELIA was developed by Minako Seki and Wolfgang A. Piontek together with an international ensemble and presented by Commedia Futura at Eisfabrik Hannover in 2023.
The work begins with the idea of the forest as a superorganism, a network in which trees, plants, fungi, animals, humans and mythological figures are all part of the same system. Mycelium, the underground fungal network that connects and nourishes the forest, becomes both a structural and poetic principle of the piece.
Movement develops as a continuous process of breathing and transformation: bodies, images and characters appear, connect, dissolve and emerge again.
Marjorie Chau participated as a creative collaborator.
| Year | 2023 |
|---|---|
| Format | Dance theatre / interdisciplinary performance |
| Media | Dance, movement, body, performance space, textiles, costume, light, sound and visual elements |
| Location | Eisfabrik Hannover, Hannover, Germany |
| Production | Commedia Futura |
| Co-production | Eisfabrik Hannover |
| Concept / Artistic Direction | Minako Seki and Wolfgang A. Piontek |
| Marjorie Chau’s Role | Creative Collaborator |
| Duration | Approximately 60 minutes |
| Premiere | 14 October 2023 |
| Season | September–November 2023 |
| Credits / Collaborators | The official source credits the project as a collective creation including Marjorie Chau, together with Pauline Eikens, Jörg Finger, Valeriia Hareha, Mo Heidrich, Beatrice Ieni, Kristina Matthias, Anastasiia Musiienko, Wolfgang A. Piontek, Luana Rossetti, Minako Seki and Edegar Starke. |
Chronology
2023 — Eisfabrik Hannover, Germany
Creation process, open rehearsal and premiere of MYCELIA.
The first public presentation of the process was an open rehearsal on 21 September 2023. The official premiere took place on 14 October 2023, as part of a series of ten performances presented between September and November that year.
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MYCELIA explores the invisible forms of connection that sustain ecosystems. Mycelium appears not only as a biological organism, but also as a metaphor for interdependence: a structure that transmits, connects and transforms, allowing new forms to emerge.
Minako Seki’s choreographic research brings this principle into the body. The stage becomes a constantly changing network of relationships, where individual movement forms part of a collective organism. The project also brought together Seki’s Butoh tradition with dancers from different contemporary movement backgrounds.
The research also explored the mythological and spiritual dimensions of the forest. The work includes references to figures from different traditions, including Artemis, Wotan and Aletheia. Through them, the forest expands from a physical ecosystem into a symbolic territory inhabited by memories, gods and invisible forces.
Another important aspect of the project was the idea of transmission. The creative process itself reflected the structure of mycelium: Minako Seki shared knowledge and tools developed over decades with a younger generation of performers, allowing this knowledge to transform and grow in new directions. This aspect was specifically highlighted in the City of Hannover’s support for the project.
Within this collective process, Marjorie Chau participated as a creative collaborator, contributing to the visual and scenic development of MYCELIA and to the way bodies, materials and images shaped the atmosphere of this constantly transforming organism.