Performances

Susanne Grau presents Xenia // is it urgent?. A play, a choral reading, a dance performance in which the boundaries between observation and performance blur. At its heart is a script, a text that can be read and performed by those in attendance. This collective reading creates a space in which dance, imagination, sensations, and small stories can unfold. Here, performative action becomes a practice of hosting and ghosting, of exploring closeness and distance, alienation and connection—through heightened awareness of the body and its shifting relationships. Xenia asks: If you had met someone before but no longer recognized them, would you still call them a stranger?
Choreography, performance, text: Susanne Grau; sound design/composition: Ismail Yakout.

Selma Lindgren’s performance Smoke in Mirrors is a magic show that explores the theme of trust. One could argue that trust is the greatest magic trick of all time. Once it’s there, anything seems possible. People agree to experimental treatments, large sums of money are put on the table, and a simple, three-letter word—“yes”—is spoken, binding two people together, for better or for worse, in sickness and in health. The show asks: Who can we trust in a world of growing uncertainty, where systemic crises complicate our shared understanding of reality? What is a promise really worth? And do we trust a magician to tackle such questions?
Text collaboration and outside eye: Louis Vincent Platzer.

Susanne Grau (she/her) is a dancer, choreographer, and Rolfing® practitioner based in Berlin. In her projects, she explores the relationships between language, physicality, imagination, and rhythm. She views performative practice as a means of facilitating encounters, a kind of séance, and a psychomagical field of experimentation. Her choreographic work aims to create a space for collective experiences by playing with the emotions of control and change. She studied Contemporary Dance (BA) in Cologne, completed a master’s degree in Performing Arts Practice and Visual Culture in Madrid, and a master’s degree in New Performative Practices in Stockholm. As a performer, she has collaborated with artists such as Fabrice Mazliah, Alexandra Pirici, Davis Freeman, Juana del Mar, Choy Ka Fai, Prue Lang, May Zarhy, Rocio Marano, and Reut Shemesh. With support from Seitenwechsel e.V., she teaches weekly dance classes for children living in refugee shelters. Susanne is a member of considering network—a network of artists and bodyworkers interested in the intersection of choreography, bodywork, and the politics/poetics of touch. Her teaching, bodywork, and artistic practice as a dancer, performer, and choreographer influence and inspire one another.

Selma Lindgren (she/her) currently works primarily under the name Lex Hymer. The set and costume design trio creates works in varying configurations for both established theaters and opera houses as well as the independent theater scene. Collaborations have included projects at the Vienna State Opera, Theater Münster, Musiktheater im Revier Gelsenkirchen, Schlosstheater Moers, Theater Basel, Semperoper Dresden, and Kampnagel. She studied scenography at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna and graduated in 2024 with the performance POUFF…! The Greatest Magic Show in the World of All Time. This was followed in the same year by the performance POUFF…! Conference of Magic at the Gropius Bau in Berlin as part of the exhibition Happiness Isn’t Always Fun, and in 2025 by POUFF…! An Exercise in Reality at the Theater Nestroyhof.
Smoke in Mirrors is the fourth work in the series with a focus on magic. She lives in Vienna.