Hello to Emptiness India

MOUVOIR Stephanie Thiersch /Goethe Institute Kolkata, Goethe Association South Asia
World premiere spring 2025

In March 2025, a new version of the production HELLO TO EMPTINESS will be created, which in its genesis is designed as a series and has so far brought to life the editions Greece (2022) and Korea (2023).
The choreographic concert will be developed in March and April in Kolkata, India, where it will premiere in the large theatre BD Birla Sabhager at the beginning of April 2025. A subsequent Indian tour is planned, with performances in Mumbai, Bangalore and Delhi.
HELLO TO EMPTINESS INDIA won the Goethe-Institut’s internal South Asia competition and
was chosen from 25 internationally renowned projects as the 2025 production due to its “artistic excellence and the diverse links to India’s rich music and dance traditions”. In February 2024, a 3-week preparatory research trip took place with documentary filmmaker Hajo Schomerus, scientist Dr Rita Panesar, filmmaker Moinak Guho and Stephanie Thiersch.

Among other things, discussions took place with various religious representatives in Bengal, funeral pyres in Varanasi, communities in Purulia and their laments and discussions in academic circles, as well as with musicologists and their research. The results were used to prepare the rehearsals in 2025 and lead to the installation ‘Voices of Laments’, which artistically juxtaposes and connects mourning rituals in Korea, Greece, India and Kenya.