Ordinary People

Première 22. 1. 2017 (Prague, CZ) & 27. 1. 2017 (Dresden, DE)
Running time 1 hour 30 minutes.

Directors  Wen Hui, Jana Svobodová
Music and sound designer Jan Burian
Video artist Jaroslav Hrdlička
Lighting designer Pavel Kotlík
Assistant director Valida Babayeva
Dramaturg Ondřej Hrab
Assistant dramaturgs Lonneke van Heugten, Carmen Mehnert
Translators Ian Yang, Anna Vrbová, Andre Swoboda
Production manager Jindřich Krippner

Cast
Wen Hui • Vladimír Tůma • Jiang Fan • Philipp Schenker • Wen Luyuan • Jan Burian • Li Xinmin • Jaroslav Hrdlička • Pavel Kotlík

At a time when the leaders of many countries show disdain for basic human rights in the interests of political business, we ask: Who are these ordinary people whom they claim to represent? Vladimír, 73, lives in a small town near Prague. He has worked his whole life in a factory as a turner and toolmaker. When he was young he was one of the best rock and roll dancers in Prague. Every Saturday night he was the king of the dance floor, dancing an extravagant "capitalist" dance, until the police would come and escort him out.  Saturday after Saturday the same story would be repeated. They could not repress his passion to dance freely.
The Living Dance Studio was founded in 1994 by filmmaker Wu Wenguang and choreographer and dancer Wen Hui as the first independent contemporary company in China. Their productions, in which dance, text and film are often combined into total works of art, document social and historical events from China’s past and present. It gets by without any state subsidies whatsoever. As a rule, the productions cannot be shown publicly. Thus, Wen Hui’s work exists in a semi-public grey area of state toleration.

The performance will be followed by panel discussion in english language.