Since 2023 Life Long Burning talks to the artists of ImPulsTanz’ [8:tension] Series to get some insights and anecdotes on their artistic work practices and their residence time during the festival in Vienna. Writer Sean Pfeiffer and the curators Breanna O’Mara & Chris Haring teamed up for this podcast. Until the end of the year, we release one episode of every Thursday.
The [8:tension] Young Choreographers’ Series at ImPulsTanz – Vienna International Dance Festival has been offering the opportunity to get to know a new generation of choreographers from all over the world and their work since 2001. Since 2024 the series is curated by Breanna O’Mara and Chris Haring.
Since 2023 Life Long Burning talks to the artists of ImPulsTanz’ [8:tension] Series to get some insights and anecdotes on their artistic work practices and their residence time during the festival in Vienna. Writer Sean Pfeiffer and the curators Breanna O’Mara & Chris Haring teamed up for this podcast. Until the end of the year, we release one episode of every Thursday.
The [8:tension] Young Choreographers’ Series at ImPulsTanz – Vienna International Dance Festival has been offering the opportunity to get to know a new generation of choreographers from all over the world and their work since 2001. Since 2024 the series is curated by Breanna O’Mara and Chris Haring.
Today’s guest is Mufutau Yusuf who’s work Impasse was invited to this years’ [8:tension] Series.
He talked about the times when he, at age 17, was asked to join a tour to New York, about his urge to make his own work, and the difference of showing it in Europe or in Nigeria. About being seen or not and as what in society, and the unfair division of power over visibility.
Almud Krejza was talking with Mufutau during ImPulsTanz Festival 2025.
Today’s guest is Luigi Guerrieri, who’s work Poor Guy was invited to this years [8:tension] Series.
We talked about Narcisism, family issues and the freedom art can give. And how to handle unexpected circumstances like losing one‘s voice on the day of a premiere.
Almud Krejza was talking with Luigi during ImPulsTanz Festival 2025.
Today’s guest is Gui B.B, who’s work I Have Such a Horrible Voice was invited to this years [8:tension] Series.
Gui talked with me about precarity. How easily one can get in debt and what this does to a person. She talked about starting a lot of things but not finishing them, about taking risks and the blurry area between life and art.
Almud Krejza was talking with Gui during ImPulsTanz Festival 2025.
Today’s guest is Adam Russell-Jones, who’s work Release the hounds was invited to this years [8:tension] Series.
Adam told me about his transition from being a ballet dancer in big companies to making his own work as independent choreographer, about the attraction as well as danger of dancing until complete exhaustion. How the collaboration with musician Moritz Haas evolved and what a drunk stranger on the U8 in Berlin has to do with his piece.
Almud Krejza was talking with Adam during ImPulsTanz Festival 2025.
Today’s guest is Mélissa Guex, who’s work DOWN (full album) was invited to this years [8:tension] Series.
She talked about her fascination for big crowds. About the magic of instant connection and how she met the drummer Clement Grin, with whom she created the piece. How she sometimes prefers speaking with her body to speaking with her mouth. And the importance of warming up and accepting downs.
Almud Krejza was talking with Mélissa during ImPulsTanz Festival 2025.
Today’s guest is Marika Peura, who’s work Amalgam Melee was invited to this year’s [8:tension] Series.
We talked about violence – and what difference it makes, who defines what violence is. About the longing for belonging. And how to appropriate a culture which is your own, but is still not very familiar. And about dynamics one cannot control, neither in real life nor on stage.
Almud Krejza was talking with Marika Peura during ImPulsTanz Festival 2025.
Today’s guests are Lisen Pousette and Olivia Rivière, the makers of the performance DUNKEL, which was invited to this year’s [8:tension] Series.
We talked about the time when they met in choir school and how singing is their natural habitat. How they moved on from soprano and alto to heavy metal and growling and about their ongoing fascination with the deconstruction of the voice.
Almud Krejza was talking with Lisen Pousette and Olivia Rivière during ImPulsTanz Festival 2025.
Today’s guest is Martina De Dominicis, who’s work Latente was invited to this years [8:tension] Series.
Martina talked about nostalgia as something more than missing the past, but missing the future, which one thought would come but did not, about how fruitful it can be to trust in one‘s gut-feeling. And about the importance of unlearning as well as of doing things one can not do - yet.
Almud Krejza was talking with Martian De Dominicis during ImPulsTanz Festival 2025.
Today’s guest is Matteo Haitzmann, composer and choreographer, who’s work Make it Count was invited to this years [8:tension] Series.
He told me which lessons from being a danceWEBber back in 2018 came in handy now, being back at the festival for a residency. How the restrictions during Corona times made him accidentally invent a new instrument. And which role the village he grew up in still plays for him when creating.
Almud Krejza was talking with Matteo Haitzmann during ImPulsTanz FestivaL 2025.
Today’s guest is Netti Nüganen. Known to ImPulsTanz audiences as part of a number of Florentina Holzinger’s productions, she first presented one of her own performances at this year’s festival. Her piece The Myth: last day, a pseudo-archeological excavation turned punk concert, is an exercise in how history is constructed. With author Sean Pfeiffer, Nüganen further reflects on this intersection of fact and fiction. They also discuss how engaging with both text material and physical objects constitutes her performative practice.
Today’s guest is Camilla Schielin, a dancer-choreographer working in Vienna. After showing her solo piece into (quickening ground) at ImPulsTanz, she talked with author Sean Pfeiffer about the development of the piece, the music and dance styles that influenced it, and how other performers shape her work.
Today’s guest is Luca Bonamore, a dancer and choreographer from Vienna. His latest group piece, Silent Lovers, is concerned with cruising - a historically queer practice of public sexual encounters. In his conversation with author Sean Pfeiffer, Bonamore discusses his start as a dancer, what it means to open up the private to the public, and navigating the multitude of Viennese spaces he performs in.
Today’s guests are choreographer-performer Jette Loona Hermanis from Estland and visual artist and stage designer Anna Ansone from Latvia. They sat down with author Sean Pfeiffer to talk about their collaborative piece FrostBite, a post-nuclear fantasy between theatre, dance and installation. They also discuss the importance of genre, fashion and improvisation in their work, and how they channelled child’s play in developing the piece.
Today’s guests are j. bouey and Tyrone Bevans, both waacking dancers and choreographers based in New York. With author Sean Pfeiffer, they discuss the history of waacking and the world premiere of their duet A Message at ImPulsTanz. They also talk about finding inspiration in the 1970s and dance as a vehicle for liberation.
Today’s guests are Viní Ventania and Vitória Jovem, performing together as Irmãs Brasil, the „Sisters of Brasil“. Their duet Eunuchs, a haunting and commanding piece about the historic and on-going hate and violence against gender-nonconforming bodies, was one of two winning works at this year’s ImPulsTanz - Young Choreographers' Award. Speaking with author Sean Pfeiffer, they reflect on their time in Vienna, the discussions their performance sparked at the festival, and how Eunuchs as a piece of art is still evolving.
Today’s guest is Xenia Koghilaki, a dancer-choreographer working between Athens and Berlin. With author Sean Pfeiffer, she discusses her research into crowd dances and moshing. She talks about the resulting piece Slamming, and how anticipation and release function as structural devices in her work.
Today’s guest is Astrid Boons, a Belgian choreographer currently working in the Netherlands. Her piece Khôra aims to find humanity in an increasingly technologized world. Her conversation with author Sean Pfeiffer touches upon the philosophical underpinnings of the work and how collaborating closely with the performers shapes her process.
Today’s guest is Georges Labbat, a dancer, choreographer and visual artist working in Paris. With Vienna based choreographer and artistic co-director of the [8:tension] Series, Chris Haring, he met at the Austrian Film Museum to discuss his performance Self/Unnamed. Here, Labbat dances with a resin puppet modeled after himself. They talk about the process of creating the puppet and the ambivalent projections regarding power and desire the duet invites.
Today’s guest is Soa Ratsifandrihana, a Franco-Malagasy dancer and choreographer based in Brussels. With author Sean Pfeiffer, she talks about showing her solo piece g r o o v e at ImPulsTanz – Vienna International Dance Festival. The work entangles different aspects of Ratsifandrihana’s personal as well as dance heritage, playing with the tension between history and momentary presence.
Today’s guest is Deva Schubert, a dancer and choreographer from Berlin. She sat down with author Sean Pfeiffer for a conversation about her work Glitch Choir, one of the winners of the 2024 ImPulsTanz - Young Choreographer’s Award. They discuss the ever-changing nature of the piece, and how one finds pleasure in a work primarily concerned with grief and lamentation.