pendulum
a participatory dance theatre performance for audiences aged 6 and up

Imagine our world rests on the surface of a great pendulum. It is stable in itself, but never fixed. We created this world together.

Pendulum is a dance theatre production developed with primary school children from the region. Through a shared process of movement, language and play, they explored what carries us – and what makes us waver. Balance and imbalance, chaos and order, the interplay of I and We.

Holding a wooden block in their hands, the children step onto the stage. They build, they observe, they let worlds of their own emerge. Then the pendulum begins to swing: blocks fall, and what has been built changes.
The pendulum swings out, returns, never comes to rest. Balance is not something you simply find, but something you create together. And this play in motion knows no rules, only possibilities.

It tells of searching for and losing one’s own centre – and of how our movements and decisions affect others. A poetic game whose outcome remains open.

Choreography: Isabel Bernhard
Dance: Sarah Bernhard, Friederike Klodwig, Marlene Klodwig
Composition: Timon Persoon
Text: Iona Daniel
Stage Design: Grapat
Set Construction: Annika Schega & Max Blachowski
Voice: Soraya Abtahi
Lighting Design & Technician: Titus Wies
Research at Primary Schools: Mario Soose & Isabel Bernhard
Assistance (production & costume): Alma Kesting
Production Management: MNEME kollektiv & Charlie Petersen
Photos: Mario Soose
Premiere: 06.12.26
Cooperation: Bela Colina, Portugal

We would like to thank the pupils of Class 3b at Erich-Kästner-Grundschule Greven, Class 4c at Michaelschule Rheine, Class 3a at Josefgrundschule Greven and Class 4 at Grundschule Loevelingloh. Their colourful ideas and movements formed the foundation for the development of this piece.