Off Europa 2026 – Main program
I Love Ballet
17th of April // 8 p.m.// Leipzig // LOFFT – DAS THEATER // I Love Ballet // Dance / Ramona Nagabczyńska & Guests20 years after completing their classical dance training, dancers Aleksandra Borys, Karolina Kraczkowska, Ramona Nagabczyńska and Iza Szostak reflect on their current view of ballet. „I Love Ballet“ tells of passion and convention, discipline and perfection, and physical pain. A summit meeting of four experienced, charismatic dance artists; equally a recollection and an inventory, a reckoning and a new beginning, a milestone in contemporary Polish dance. No language barrier.
The Spermbankers
17th of April // 9.30 p.m.// Leipzig // LOFFT – DAS THEATER // Concert / The Spermbankers Old-school grooves and hard-hitting sounds without nostalgic detours or retro tricks. The Prague- based band „The Spermbankers“ cultivates a kind of contemporary punk gospel. An evening that gives old black spirituals and country music a raw garage touch.
Who Killed Bambi
18th of April // 8 p.m.// Leipzig // LOFFT – DAS THEATER //
Solo Performance // Who Killed Bambi / Çağlar YiğitoğullarıMinimalistic and barely protective, the laboratory setting created by Turkish-born artist Çağlar Yiğitoğulları, increasingly becomes a place for surveying precarious lives, not least those of migrants. Inspired by fluxus and punk, „Who Killed Bambi“ is a kind of cry for help using theatrical means, a mercilessly subjective, very sensible and most of all radically honest view of societal coldness and human brutality, of oppression and heteronomy. On the verge of an outburst of rage, in despair and almost resigned. Performance in German.
FUGK
21th of April // 8 p.m.// Leipzig // LOFFT – DAS THEATER // FUGK // Finnish-Japanese folk mixtape Home butoh DIY kabuki / Pasi Mäkelä (Finnland/Tschechien)In FUGK (an abbreviation for “Finno-Ugric Garage Kabuki“) folklore and trash meet contemporary live-art. Performer and musician Pasi Mäkelä draws inspiration from hunting rituals from his Finnish homeland and combines them with the stylised expressiveness of Japanese Kabuki theatre. The result is a wild acoustic-performative cosmos full of strange characters and images of contemplative beauty and absurd humour. A self-deprecating, anarchistic theatre evening in which tradition and its cultural transformation collide with the chaos of the present and the expectations of the audience. No language barrier.
Der Kreis
21st of April // 8 p.m.// Chemnitz // Off-Bühne KOMPLEX //Der Kreis // Solo Performance // Çağlar Yiğitoğulları „Searching for a leader, a group of birds embarks on a dangerous journey. In the end, they discover that guidance and wisdom lie within themselves, that true community and solidarity are possible even without leadership.“ In Çağlar Yiğitoğulları’s interpretation, birds are replaced by a narrator and a wide range of physical and emotional forms of expression inspired by the pre-Zoroastrian religion of the Yazidism. Performed in German.
Kritische Zone Vergangenheit: Von Unbehagen und Widerspruch
22th of April // 8 p.m.// Leipzig //die naTo // Kritische Zone Vergangenheit: Von Unbehagen und Widerspruch // film and talk / An evening with 2 films from the 80s and a talk. Films and talk in German – no translation.
Die falschen Freunde der einfachen Leute
23th of April // 8 p.m.// Leipzig // LOFFT – DAS THEATER //
Theatre // Die falschen Freunde der einfachen Leute / Robert Misik / Divadlo Feste The play, based on an essay by Austrian publicist Robert Misik, tells a story of a society that despises its foundation and its peripheries. It describes political and social frameworks, talks of the differences between city and countryside, between secure and fragile lifestyles, and depicts indoctrination, separation and brutalisation. But above all, it is a psychological assessment of the population in those forgotten, abandoned areas, where many people seem to have little choice than to view the often empty promises of right-wing populism as a kind of last refuge. Czech with German surtitles.
Meckerchor
23rd of April // 8 p.m.// Chemnitz // Weltecho //Meckerchor-Talk // public Action //Maren Barnikow The “Meckerchor” intervention in the centre of Chemnitz had to be cancelled last minute due to funding cuts. The talk at Weltecho will be taking place. Talk in German, no translation.
Wie Herr Gherase sich in Clara Smith verliebte
24th of April // 8 p.m.// Leipzig // Theater der Jungen Welt //
Theatre // How Mr. Gherase Fell in Love with Clara Smith / The National Theatre Cluj-Napoca The actor and playwright Cosmin Stănilă started researching dating sites, not only because he wanted to understand how they helped his uncle find a new love but also as a precursor for a new play. It didn’t take long till he too found “connection”. His experiences were incorporated into his play – skilfully and playfully processed – with many unexpected twists and turns. The result is a highly interesting and exciting document about the internet, cultural differences and exploitation, and the critical zone of human communication. Romanian with English surtitles.
If Aphrodite Was a Monster
25th of April // 8 p.m.// Leipzig // LOFFT – DAS THEATER //
Dance // If Aphrodite Was a Monster / Iva Sveshtarova + Ensemble The impressive choreography is inspired by the aesthetics of carnival and the possibilities of the female body. The performers drift through ritualistic constellations in which their physicality undergoes disguise, temptation, ecstasy and vulnerability constantly creating new spaces for association. The performance shows models and variations of femininity in a broad field between desire and destruction, as a promise of rebellion, transformation and change. With a short text in English.
Winterkind – Made in GDR
25th of April // 8 p.m.//Fritz Theater // Winterkind – Made in GDR // public Action //Lykke Langer / Feine Essenz AG An autobiographical theatre evening about weekly nursery and competitive sports, between demands for exit visas, state security (Stasi) and the fall of the Berlin Wall. WINTERKIND uses a life story to tell the tale of growing up in the GDR system in the 80s; of a search for meaning, for support and participation, and above all, provides an idea of the particular strength that is necessary to continue living under such circumstances. Performance in German.