Bottlefed is a Tanztheater company founded in 2004 and co-run by Kathrin Bigler (writer/director) and Rebeca Fernandez Lopez (choreographer/performer). We have developed a solid writer/director and choreographer partnership that determines the training process and performance language of our work where dance, theatre, original text and music are integral and equal components of our practice. The ensemble’s creative process is rooted in durational improvisation and telling stories through the performers’ bodies without a big emphasis on technical support.

Bottlefed performances combine new writing, dance, physical theatre and electro-acoustic music and reflect the intertwining of the tragic and comical aspects of theatre and human nature.

Over the past three years Bottlefed ensemble has been run as a laboratory for regular research, development and experimentation, and as a platform for cross-art form collaborations. In each project, we work with a defined group of international artists who commit to the ensemble as freelance collaborators on a long-term basis.

In order to fulfil our goal of creating ‘total theatre’ we train our performers to become ‘total performers’. This means a performer with an alert mind in a strong and alert body who is able to connect to other alert minds and bodies (the group) in any given space, in any time frame. A ‘total performer’ is one who is able to leave his/her ego behind in order to be part of an ensemble, a performer that is able to fulfil his/her whole creative potential in rehearsal and performance.

Photo: Mattia Zoppellaro