• 1

• Performance
• Dance + Artist Talk + monsters
• distortion
• resistance

• Di., 12.05.2026, 20:00

Artist Talk 'FRANK'

Choreographer Cherish Menzo examines the figure of the monster in 'FRANK' —short for Frankenstein. More than (re)producing a physical or visual portrayal of the monster, she is researching the monstrous as an embodiment of beliefs and narratives that terrify and horrify, and yet also attract us.

• 1© Bas de Brouwer

Cherish Menzo explores in 'FRANK' processes of decay and how the slow disintegration and weakening of something is expressed through physical gestures.The performance space is based on Baka Gorong, a place behind the former plantations and in front of the wetlands in Suriname, South America, where enslaved people secretly performed Winti rituals—rituals that were demonized under Dutch colonial rule—and contemplated their escape. Cherish Menzo is joined by Omagbitse Omagbemi, Mulunesh, and Malick Cissé—artists from different generations. Together, they create a performance that straddles ritual, apocalypse, and carnival, in which constructed identities are questioned. During the Artist Talk the Audience can learn more about these topics of identity and rituals in discussion with the artistic team.

About the Venue

HAU Hebbel am Ufer (HAU2) Kreuzberg

HAU Hebbel am Ufer, with its three venues HAU1, HAU2 und HAU3 and the digital stage HAU4 is a paragon of current artistic positions at the interface of theatre, dance and performance. In addition, music, visual art and theoretical debates are a constant component of the wide-ranging programme.

About the piece

FRANK

In 'FRANK', Cherish Menzo explores the monster as a mirror of societal fears and desires. Blurring the lines between ritual, horror, carnival and decay, a physical performance emerges, characterised by distortion and resistance – a dance in a world spiralling out of control. Distortion is a choreographic leitmotif used to generate movement material and as a tool to devour the dance and loosen its structure. Cherish Menzo investigates the action of decay and how something gradually breaking down and becoming less or worse can affect one’s gestures.

About the People

Cherish Menzo and Team

Cherish Menzo is joined by Omagbitse Omagbemi, Mulunesh and Malick Cissé – artists from different generations. Together they construct a performance between the ritual, the apocalypse, and the carnival, where narrated identities are challenged, where flesh can deviate and be corrupted until it bursts and becomes unbearable. The dancers express their standing in the world with incoherent, broken-down movement in a scenery that collapses around them.