“Without culture, and the relative freedom it implies, society, even when perfect, is but a jungle.
This is why any authentic creation is a gift to the future” (Albert Camus)
Partner Organizations:
DOCK ART Berlin / Germany
DOCK11 EDEN***** Berlin / Germany
Derida Dance Center, Sofia / Bulgaria
La Mama, New York / USA
A project by DOCK 11 GmbH in collaboration with DOCK ART
This project is supported by the Trust for Mutual Understanding, Summa Artium, DOCK ART
Artist: Ivan Estegneev
Through this international residency program, we aim to further artistic excellence across borders and nations. Its goal is to bring people closer together through live, shared experiences. We seek to connect between individuals of different nationalities, ages, and beliefs, stimulate critical thinking, and enable safe yet fearless discussions.
Artist Ivan Estegneev has been invited to create a new dance work and present it at DOCK 11 / DOCK ART in Berlin, Derida Dance Center in Sofia and at LaMama in New York.
Several Community Outreach programs will accompany the Project.
Schedule:
January - July 2026 Creation Period
24 June 2026 Lecture Demonstration at DOCK 11 Saal 4
18.7.2026 Pre Premier at Derida Dance Center in Sofia, Bulgaria
03., 04., 05., 06. December 2026 The Shape of a Man Premiere at DOCK 11 / DOCK ART Theater, Berlin
Dramaturge & Development: Katherina Vasiliadis
Curatorial Team: Katherina Vasiliadis, Wibke Janssen, Atanas Maev, Mia Yoo,
Project Description
The Shape of a Man
Dialogue Dance Company / Ivan Estegneev & Evgeny Kulagin
The performance follows the figure of a man suspended between waiting and action, shaped by a Soviet body: disciplined, collective, and deprived of intimacy. Beneath this rigid surface, desire, sensuality, tenderness, and vulnerability gradually emerge.
Everything seems about to happen: an encounter, a touch, a performance. Yet the decisive moment is repeatedly postponed. Two male bodies become an archive of experiences and memories. Through a raw physical language, power and dependency, violence and tenderness, fear and longing collide.
Between personal testimony and Greek tragedy, the performance asks how masculinity is constructed and what it costs to hold on to inherited ideals of strength. Is another form of intimacy and selfhood possible?
By and starring: Ivan Estegneev & Evgeny Kulagin
Duration: 60 min
A production by Dialogue Dance Company, with the kind support of Trust for Mutual Understanding, Summa Artium, DOCK ART and DOCK 11, Kirill & Friends Company, Derida Dance Centre and La Mama.
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Biographies:
Ivan Estegneev
Evgeny Kulagin
Derida Dance Center is the first center for contemporary dance and education in Bulgaria, founded in 2010, and functioning through Art Link Foundation. The center has a broad spectrum of activities that fulfill the objectives of the organization, namely to be an instrument for accelerating the development of contemporary dance art in the country by supporting the existing and emerging talents in the field. The main areas in which the center operates are independent dance productions, training and coaching programs for Contemporary Dance, international partnerships, residency programs, presentation, and curatorial activities.
LaMama (Experimental Theatre Club) is a legendary, multicultural NYC theater, founded by Ellen Stewart in 1961, offering a haven for underrepresented, avant-garde artists to create boundary-pushing work, known for supporting global talent and pioneering Off-Off-Broadway theater with a mission of diverse, uncensored artistic freedom. It's a vital cultural institution that champions new performance, pushes artistic limits, and serves as a global hub for diverse voices in theater, dance, and art
DOCK 11 EDEN is a renowned institution, with two locations, for contemporary dance in Berlin and across Europe, consisting of a dance school, rehearsal spaces, and a theater hall operated by the independent DOCK ART gGmbH. Founded shortly after German reunification in a former factory on Kastanienallee, DOCK 11 has developed into a lively centre for artistic creation, education and performances and now houses a dance school, several dance studios, a digital laboratory, a café, offices and a theatre space with a regular programme. In 2009, the range of facilities was expanded with the addition of EDEN, an ensemble of several high-quality studio buildings and two villas on park-like grounds in Pankow, providing additional rehearsal, performance and multi-purpose rooms as well as additional residential apartments.
DOCK 11 / DOCK ART theater in Berlin has been a permanent venue since 1998 and presents a weekly changing program. The focus is on dance, but performances, concerts, and readings are also programmed. The program strives for diversity and aesthetic plurality, is intergenerational, and is committed to cultural education and community projects. Since 2020, DOCK ART has received conceptual funding from the Berlin Cultural Administration; it stages more than 200 performances per year, reaching approximately 13,000 audience members. Important festivals at DOCK ART include the international dance film festival POOL, which took place for the 18th time in October 2024; MASH Dance Berlin, a joint festival with the Machol Schalem Dance House in Jerusalem; the festival for contemporary dance and performance art b12; soundance, the international festival for contemporary dance and music; and PLATAFORMA, the decolonial and intersectional BIPoC/Latinx platform for dance, documentation, and discourse. Artists such as Christine Bonasea, Jenny Haack, Martha Hincapie Cherry, Tomi Paasonen, Peter Pleyer, Anna Nowicka, Hanna Schillinger, Niv Sheinfeld & Oren Laor, Nir De Volff, and Johannes Wieland have long been associated with the venue.
