How to get rid of a body
a magic manual (2019)

Si nous décidons de nous évader grâce à un tunnel,
nous ferons apparaître en creusant ce tunnel
un important monticule de terre,soit la version en négatif du trou,
qu’il nous faudra éliminer avec la plus grande vigilance,
sachant qu’il est bien sûr peu commode d’imiter du vide avec du plein.
Emmanuelle Pireyre, Comment faire disparaître la terre?

In his second solo-work, Léonard Engel plays with the impossibility to leave ones own body behind. Together with musician Korhan Erel, he precisely and humorously works his way through a series of experiments that seem doomed to failure. Strategies of deception inspired by different species or performance genres become the tools of an alienation that also operates as a magnifying glass. How to get rid of a body. A magic manual functions on a paradox: the repeated attempt to make it disappear keeps bringing the body and its limitations at the center of attention. In the end remain both fascination and discomfort for those transformations experienced by a body reminded of its material existence and its own mortality.

Premiere 20.09.2019, HochX Theater, Munich (GER)

Concept, Choreography & Performance Léonard Engel
Composition & Live Electronics Korhan Erel
Dramaturgy Maja Zimmermann
Outside eye Tamara Saphir
Costume & Set Design Theresa Scheitzenhammer
Light Design Charlotte Marr
Voices Jule Gartzke, Miria Wurm
Technical Consulting & Lights Wolfgang Eibert
Production Management Miria Wurm
Press work Miria Wurm/ Tanzbüro München
Public Relations Veronika Heinrich/ Tanzbüro München
Special thanks to Isa Köhler, Christian Binder, Ricardo Pereira & Diana Port

Duration 60 min

This project is a production by Léonard Engel in co-production with PACT Zollverein and HochX Theater und Live Art, Funded by the Departments of Arts and Culture of the City of Munich, supported by the Nationales Performance Netz Coproduction Fund for Dance, which is funded by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and Media of Germany, made possible with the support of the Bayerischer Landesverband für zeitgenössischen Tanz (BLZT) financed by funds from the Bayerisches Staatsministerium für Wissenschaft und Kunst and funded by the Kulturstiftung Stadtsparkasse München. With the friendly support of Tanzfabrik Berlin and Tanzbüro München.