LIFT Tanzkollektiv (Liv Schellander, Irene Giró, Fia/Sophia Neises, Tanja Erhart)
BIOFUCK
Five bodies move in a line. Arm to arm, shifting weights, hacking space. One of them makes a decision, turns, accelerates; joy meets frustration. Blank canvases roll over the floor, ready for projections. Eagerly awaiting gaps, holding on to the kinship of these migrated, queer, crip bodies seems essential. Facing linearity, they break open, laugh, grieve, revealing a new now. A dialogue unfolds; the audience is involved: Welcome to BIOFUCK, LIFT Tanzkollektiv’s new show about non-linear biographies.
A line. Five bodies. Four wheels. Three times three legs. Two ears on each head. One made of glass, one tongue in each mouth. Arm to arm, shoulder to wrist, pinkies entwined. The five white bodies are moved by something I can’t grasp. The dancers shift their weight, use momentum and carry the line through space. Steady, one dancer decides to pivot. The outer edges speed up. Fast, hustling, enjoying and hating the game, they hack space. They push blank canvases across the floor, ready for projections. The need for gaps, to reach into ancient wisdom and contemporary desires, appears. Holding on to the kinship of these migrated, queer, crip bodies seems essential. Seemingly lost, seeking linearity, the five bodies realize there is more. They break open. I hear them fall apart, grieving-sobbing, raging-laughing, swallowing unknowns. Revealing the new now, it becomes theirs. It becomes ours.
In BIOFUCK, LIFT Tanzkollektiv dismantle traditional norm biographies as ableist, capitalist constructs. Rather than linear, success-oriented life stories, LIFT focuses on alternative biographical experiences. Their performance emphasises the complexity and disarray of life, making biographies beyond normative concepts a multisensory experience for audiences and performers alike.
LIFT Tanzkollektiv (Liv Schellander, Irene Giró, Fia/Sophia Neises, Tanja Erhart) is a constellation of crip, queer, and migrant bodies committed to creating new narrative, experience-oriented and encounter spaces rooted in Aesthetics of Access. Emerging through collaboration and growing together, they share responsibilities according to resources, skills, and preferences, building sustainable structures within the performing arts. Their work centers multi-sensorial access, exploring performative practices with and without assistance that honor diverse perception styles. In the studio, they acknowledge the interdependence of bodyminds, tools, collaborators, access dramaturgies, invited artists such as Rita Mazza, as well as the temporalities of Crip Time.
Tanja Erhart (she/her) is a dance artist and intersectional pleasure and disability justice activist. She works with, collaborates on and researches access-centered dramaturgy, dance and rest practices of different bodyminds, and assistive tools, within their own spacetime and sensualities.
Irene Giró (they/she) is a dance artist and performer, with an interdisciplinary approach to their work. They are interested in dance as a form of dialogue and as a means of making the hidden tangible, and develop creative methods that center access on- and off-stage.
Rita Mazza (Rita/they/she), is a Berlin-based performance artist exploring the intersection of dance, Sign language and visual poetry. Active across Europe and the Deaf community, Rita creates works such as Dandelion II, Matters of Rhythm and The Voice.
Fia/Sophia Neises (she/her) is a performer, choreographer, access dramaturge, and disability rights activist. Her artistic work focuses on multisensory perception and dance. She is currently researching the tension between abstraction and the experience of missing out.
Liv Schellander (she/her) is a dancer/performer, choreographer, and SE® practitioner. She collaborates in diverse constellations, teaches, and produces her own work. She is currently developing and expanding her artistic practice, ‘Choreo-Constellating,’ a methodology that foregrounds interdependence as its central principle.
Accessibility
Relaxed Performance with integrated audio description and a dramaturgy designed for blind and visually impaired as well as Deaf and hard-of-hearing audiences
Languages: German spoken language, German Sign Language (DGS) with elements from Austrian Sign Language (ÖGS) and surtitles in German and English
Registration for assistants, attendants and support dogs can be done via our registration form, by e-mailing barrierefreiheit@brut-wien.at or by calling +43 1 587 8774.
For everybody to find their way to brut nordwest, we offer a pick-up service at the close-by tram stations prior to the shows. Please give us a heads-up by e-mailing barrierefreiheit@brut-wien.at or calling +43 1 587 8774 and we will be happy to pick you up!
Tactile guidance system
Access friends
Communication assistant with knowledge of Austrian Sign Language (ÖGS) on site
Alternative seating and lying options as well as access and wheelchair spaces
Stim toys
Resting room
Sensory regulation room
FFP2 masks as a protective measure of solidarity
In the case of questions, please contact us by e-mailing barrierefreiheit@brut-wien.at or calling +43 1 587 8774.
Credits
Concept and Artistic Direction LIFT Tanzkollektiv (Liv Schellander, Irene Giró, Fia/Sophia Neises, Tanja Erhart) Performance Tanja Erhart, Irene Giró, Rita Mazza, Fia/Sophia Neises, Liv Schellander DGS Performance Rita Mazza Technical Direction and Light Design Gretchen Blegen Video and Surtitles Declan Hurley Stage Design Yoav Admoni Costume Design Evan Loxton Music Biljana Pais DGS Coach Corinna Brenner, ÖGS Coach Lena Schramek Deaf Dramaturgy Pia Katharina Jendreizik Access Dramaturgy for blind and visually impaired audience Agnes Kappaun, Fia/Sophia Neises Access Dramaturgy for Relaxed Performance Ema Benčíková, Milena (Miles) Wendt Access Dramaturgy for physically disabled audience Tanja Erhart Press and Public Relations Gina Jeske Film documentation Tanja Brzaković Production management Olivia Hotz, Esther Schneider Interpreters for German Sign Language and German Alma Arnoul, Charmaine Callahan, Viviane Grünberger, Flo Köhler, Stella Papantonatos, Brice Stapelfeldt Music audioflyer Biljana Pais Speakers audioflyer Tanja Erhart, Irene Giró Photographer Xenia Dürr
A co-production by Strange Natures – Verein für performative Kunst, Sophia Neises, Ballhaus Ost and imagetanz 2026/brut Wien
Funded by the City of Vienna’s Department of Cultural Affairs (MA 7) and the Berlin Senate Department for Culture and Social Cohesion
Supported by Im_flieger Wien as part of a residency. Special thanks to Netzwerk Freier Theater, PATHOS München and Halle 6
Links & Social
Dates & Tickets
Audio flyer with information about the play and accessibility:
Music: Biljana Pais
Voices: Tanja Erhart & Irene Giró
brut nordwest
Nordwestbahnstraße 8-10, 1200 Vienna
accessible
Info
On Sat. 07.03., the show will be followed by an artist talk, moderation: Ema Benčíková.
Content notes
The performance uses loud techno music in several scenes.
The performance deals with the themes of death and grief.
There is voluntary interaction with the audience.
Event recommendations
Taking the time
hosted by Elena Lach, Ema Bencíková & LIFT Tanzkollektiv
tanz.sucht.theater
BUZZ
brut all over Vienna
brut nordwest
accessible
Nordwestbahnstraße 8-10, 1200 Vienna
Subway: U1, U2 (Praterstern), U4 (Friedensbrücke), U6 (Dresdnerstraße) Tram: 5 (Nordwestbahnstraße) Bus: 5A (Wasnergasse)
accessible
studio brut
not accessible
Zieglergasse 25, 1070 Wien
Subway: U3 (Zieglergasse), Tram: 49 (Westbahnstraße / Zieglergasse)
not accessible
Bears in the Park Art Place
not accessible
Eyzinggasse 12, 1110 Vienna
U-Bahn: U3 (Gasometer) Bus: 72A (Gasometer), 76A, 76B (Simoningplatz)
not accessible
WUK performing arts
barrierefrei
Währinger Straße 59, 1090 Vienna
Subway: U6 (Währinger Straße / Volksoper), Tram: 40, 41, 42 (Währinger Straße / Volksoper), 5, 33 (Spitalgasse), 37, 38, 40, 41, 42 (Spitalgasse / Währinger Straße)
Der Betrieb
accessible
Vogelweidplatz 13, 1150 Wien
Subway: U6 (Burggasse-Stadthalle) / Bus: 48A (Moeringgasse) / Tram: 9 (Camillo Sitte Gasse)