In the run-up to this year’s festival there were several ideas on how to make the subject of body searches come alive outside the context of guest performances as well. One example is the stage as the setting for an exhibition fight. A boxing ring will be erected where the round table for the dancing solo competition had stood in previous years. The registered boxing club Boxring atlas Leipzig e.V. will present a series of boxing matches – kick boxing and women’s boxing in addition to traditional boxing.

The protagonists come on the stage. They face each other, wait for their opponent to go on the offensive, attack and defend themselves. They are not allowed to thrash about excitedly, a feint does not count. A left or right hook may decide the match. When they leave the stage, they also step out of their roles as fighters, and it is now clear who is entitled to call himself the stronger of the two. Punishing physical blows, strength and control determine the outcome of the fight, not brute force. And it is precisely these elements that surprisingly constitute the basis for a dignified theatrical performance. The way the opponents present themselves, how they conceal their weaknesses, savour their victories and outplay their defeats give us a different insight into the rehearsed drama on the theatre stage. And so it no wonder that theatre people such as Bertolt Brecht held boxing in such high esteem. Boxing and the avant-garde have occasionally even formed an alliance. In the 30s, the grotesque dancer Valeska Gert appeared in the boxing ring between individual fights.

Boxring atlas Leipzig e.V. was founded in 1992 as the first independent boxing club in Leipzig. Since then trainers and active boxers have not simply devoted themselves to boxing: the sports on offer range from swimming and gymnastics to sport for the disabled. Boxing training courses for managers have also been arranged recently. Fighting and being fought is now on the agenda for interested senior managers from trade and industry and politics.

The Club is able to point to many successes: it has 50 Saxony championship titles, 12 south German champions, 1 German champion in the boxing division, 20 Saxony champions in the swimming division, and the AtlasDancers have won the Saxony championships four times.