Pulsating sounds, bodies dancing in ecstasy, a sense of freedom: A need for expression manifested in house, so named after the Chicago warehouse where the first parties took place in the early 1980s. Thus, house music became a vent against the oppression of Black and LGBTQI+ communities. House culture has since informed numerous musical styles from techno to dance and influences what happens in clubs and on dancefloors around the world to date. A tribute to club culture, 4 A.M. conducts a choreographic examination of the various facets of house dance. Similar to the inclusive, non-judgmental spirit of the early years, the beat and the repetitive, upbeat music form the central anchor for the performers’ physical experience. Their movements are inspired by intense research into the respective scenes in Europe and the United States, moving along a wide range of emotions from self-doubt, isolation, intimacy, and ecstasy. Based on the personal experiences of four women who have grown up in Europe, 4 A.M. is a house dance piece that celebrates the club as a safe space where conventions are immaterial as at four o’clock in the morning, following hours of danced transcendence, a space free of judgement opens up for everyone to experience collective freedom.

Olivia Mitterhuemer is a freelance dancer who focuses on hip-hop free style and house dance. She is co-founder of the Potpourri company and the Flavourama street dance festival. She has included her curiosity regarding African-American dance styles in several dance productions (Hungry Sharks, INFLUX, Toihaus) and has been creating her own pieces since 2019. In 2020, Mitterhuemer was awarded a one-year scholarship for performance by the Province of Salzburg, and in 2022, she received the Austrian Federal Ministry of Art, Culture, Civil Service and Sport’s START scholarship for music and the performing arts.

Farah Deen is a dancer, dance educator, and choreographer. She co-founded the Potpourri company and the international hip-hop and house dance festival Flavourama as well as the Vienna-based BIPoC collective Team Balsam. Her work oscillates between the rich expressivity of the hip-hop and house dance cultures and contemporary art. Deen first performed the solo the Sky above, the Mud below by Hungry Sharks at brut’s imagetanz festival before taking it on a world tour. She also appeared in works by Simon Mayer, Silke Grabinger, Etta Ermini, Imani Rameses, Robert Carsen, Harmen Tromp, and others.

The performance on March 24^th will be followed by an artist talk. 

imagetanz closing party with A party called JACK following the performance on March 25^th.