In preparation for her upcoming performances at Joyce SoHo, Elfi Schäfer-Schafroth shared her personal thoughts on the creation of the piece with us. Read on:

“Lichtungen is a piece centered around the saying “there can be no sunlight without shadows”. Friendship is one of the things that brings light into the darkness, that gives us strength during difficult times, and it is thanks to mentors, teachers and loved ones that we can grow as human beings.

The finale of Lichtungen is about friendship, and for this finale I asked the people from all over the world who have influenced me the most to endow Lichtungen with a bit of themselves: some of them gave me a gesture, some a movement, and others a sequence. By weaving these into my own choreography, what appears to be a solo-performance is actually a work of friendship and inspiration, in which all the contributors are on stage in spirit.

The Sunday performance will be dedicated to the late Doris Rudko, a great choreography teacher. Doris was enormously important for me as a mentor, an inspiration and a friend. She accompanied my work in the past 15 years with comments and suggestions, came to rehearsals and visited every performance I did in New York. I am forever grateful to her.”