Ubuntu Connection

In 2022, UBUNTU CONNECTION was celebrated by both the audience and the press as a festival highlight. This year, our newly conceived competition will open euro-scene Leipzig on the big stage. First, eight remarkable participants from various dance genres will show their abilities in solo performances. Afterwards, collective battle sessions – danced duels – follow. Limits in styles are broken up and the desire to win moves to the background. Instead, an artistic dialogue is created as a Gesamtkunstwerk together with the audience and accompanied by live music from the Berlin band Sonic Interventions: the UBUNTU CONNECTION. This is – on 5 November, the day of the globally relevant presidential elections in the USA – most certainly meant programmatically.

Because Ubuntu means "I am through you", so exactly the opposite of René Descartes' statement "I think, therefore I am". This constructive fundamental social attitude has its origins in the countries of sub-Saharan Africa and stands for a longing for societal respect, empathy, participation and change through dialogue. A prominent representative of this philosophy was the first democratically elected president of South Africa and Nobel Peace Prize winner, Nelson Mandela. His intent was not selflessness, but rather a process that would sustainably improve society through its own growth and give something back to it so that, in the end, everyone profits.

Raphael Moussa Hillebrand and Jasmin Blümel-Hillebrand curated UBUNTU CONNECTION with their Somogo Kollektiv. As in 2022, the evening will be moderated by Raphael Moussa Hillebrand, an internationally recognized choreographer and HipHop dancer with an instinct for relevant social-political issues.