“In the vast silence of the galaxy…a new planet drifts alone. A mysterious orb glowing softly in the darkness, surrounded by twisting light band. Discovered in 2045 by the IMEKA Space Telescope…Ayviss is a free-floating world…unbound by any sun…Following a Möbius-loop orbit, no other planet dares trance. It spins faster than Jupiter …never sleeps…here they are, the Ayvissians, flying as light…”

Akemi Takeya’s new group work is a multidisciplinary performance piece based on a surrealist sci-fi fantasy – “A rare voyage between the planet Earth and Ayviss”. Here she addresses the fascination of flight and expresses an illusory and ambivalent world through her Buddhist-influenced worldview, as well as her political transmission that expands her own horizons more freely.

The main part of the performance is a ‘Training Camp’, where three instructors try to teach the five participants various lessons for spaceflight, including telepathy and the art of flying as light. Each of these sessions has a different focus – in terms of mental, physical, content and atmospheric – orientated towards the essential features of training as an almost ritualistic sequence of exercises, repetition, failure and development. The work combines the stimulating manipulation and modulation of the Takeya style with complex ritualistic choreographic ablations. Takeya’s unique sense of humour also plays a central role in this work.

Concept, Artistic Direction, Staging, Script, Choreography, Object Akemi Takeya Performance, Creation Akemi Takeya, Evandro Pedroni, Zoé-Afan Strasser, Oleg Soulimenko, Mathia*s Lenz, Helena Araújo, Yoh Morishita, Veronika Zott Artistic Advice and Script Edition Yosi Wanunu Sound Design, Composition, Live-Music (Electronics & Guitar) Martin Siewert Scenography Alfredo Barsuglia Lighting Design Nicholas Langer Costumes Ruth Erharter Costume Assistant Ronaldo Conforti Styling Imeka Object Construction Mathias Lenz Video Design Benedikt Franz Werth, Urdyl Bauer Video Teaser Michael Loizenbauer PR Photography Helmut Prochart Sky Photography Fishy Sound Editing Michael Strohmann, Sebastian Bauer Production Support Johannes Maile Production Management Vladimir und Estragon Production IMEKAproduction

Transient Shifts is a production by IMEKAproduction in co-production with ImPulsTanz – Vienna International Dance Festival, funded by the Cultural Department of the City of Vienna / MA7, BMWKMS, and Bezirkskultur Donaustadt.