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«strike»
Wu Tsang, Moved by the Motion & NTGent

DancePerformance

In this multidisciplinary performance, live improvisation, sound, video and flamenco come together with the myth of the opera character Carmen. It is the first work by Wu Tsang & Moved by the Motion at the Gessnerallee.

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  • Mon 16/1120:00–21:20

    Halle

    Opening Night Reception

  • Tue 17/1120:00–21:20

    Halle

  • Wed 18/1120:00–21:20

    Halle

Sound splinters, images glitch, bodies negotiate inherited gestures. Moved by the Motion: an intersection of film, poetry, music, dance, performance and theatre. Copyright: Lumento - Vassili Feodoroff
  • Various spoken languages
  • Surtitles in English

A ‘strike’ can take many forms: a sudden blow, a percussive hit, a refusal, an act of collective interruption. The word carries violence, rhythm, and dissent all at once. What these gestures have in common is their evasion of capture even as they brush against the traditions of the world’s most famous femicide: the myth of Carmen.

In their latest multidisciplinary performance, the collective ‘Moved by the Motion’ explores the codes and gestures of this iconic figure, in collaboration with flamenco artists. Through live improvisation, sound and video overlays, fragments of the myth are torn apart and reassembled in ‘strike’. Music splinters, images glitch, bodies negotiate inherited gestures. What emerges is less a retelling than an excavation—an attempt to expose the violence embedded in the beauty of this legend.

‘strike’, directed by Wu Tsang, is the culmination of six years of research into the opera Carmen, the representation of Carmen in other genres, and the flamenco subculture. For this research, Tsang spent a lot of time in Seville, Spain, over many years. Tsang, born in the US, is an award-winning visual artist whose projects have been presented at prestigious museums including MoMA (New York). Her company, Moved by the Motion, continues to be based in Zurich and produces works in collaboration with the Gessnerallee. 

Accessibility and practical information

  • Step-free access

  • Various language versions with English surtitles

  • For sold-out performances, we reserve a small number of accessible seats (wheelchair spaces and beanbags). We ask anyone with accessibility needs to contact kasse@gessnerallee.ch.

  • The play is by the artist Wu Tsang.

    She works with the group Moved by the Motion.

    The play is about Carmen.

    Carmen is the main character in a famous opera.

    She wants to live freely.

    Her lover is jealous.

    He kills her.

    The group does NOT simply retell the story.

    It presents scenes and ideas from the story.

    The group works with:

    • Dance

    • Music

    • Sound

    • Video

  • Concept:
    Moved by the Motion
    Direction:
    Wu Tsang
    Movement & creative direction:
    Tosh Basco
    Performers:
    Tosh Basco, Raúl Cantizano, Sara Jiménez, Josh Johnson, Perle Palombe, Tapiwa Svosve, Wu Tsang
    Dramaturgy:
    Joshua Wicke, Enrique Fuenteblanca
    Set & costume design:
    Carlos Soto
    Light design:
    Dennis Diels
    Music direction:
    Asma Maroof
    Video:
    Jerome Pesnel
    Produced by:
    NTGent
    In Coproduction with:
    Moved by the Motion, Gessnerallee

  • Wu Tsang (born 1982, USA) combines her work as a filmmaker (Wildness, 2012, Duilian, 2015, Moby Dick; or, The Whale, 2022) with that of a performer and director. Her work has been exhibited in some of the world’s most prestigious museums (MoMA New York, Tate Modern London, etc.). During a six-year residency at Schauspielhaus Zürich, where she first explored the character of Carmen, she has established herself in recent years as a theatre maker (Pinocchio, 2022, Carmen, 2024, Robin Hood, 2025) together with the other member of the collective Moved by the Motion. In 2018, Tsang won the MacArthur Genius Grant and in 2025 she was a lecturer at Harvard University. She recently co-curated the expo Theatre Picasso in Tate Modern. According to Art Review, she is one of the hundred most influential people in the art world today.

    Moved by the Motion is a multidisciplinary group of artists who play with language, movement, image and sound. They create at the melting point of film, poetry, music, dance, performance and theatre. The group started in LA in 2013 and is internationally renowned. Members are invited to collaborate in projects around the world. For ‘strike’, the ensemble returns to the basis of their working methods: collective creation, iterative composition and collision of genres.

  • Stadt Zürich Kultur, Pro Helvetia, Ernst Göhner Stiftung, Ernst & Olga Gubler-Hablützel Stiftung, Landis & Gyr Stiftung

Copyright: Trevis Janssen

Copyright: Trevis Janssen

Copyright: Trevis Janssen

Copyright: Trevis Janssen

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