SunBengSitting
… is a piece between yodeling, folk dance and contemporary dance, a trip into the past and a playful, humorous search for identity.
SunBengSitting is a piece between yodeling, folk dance and contemporary dance, a trip into the past and a playful, humorous search for identity. Austrian farm boy and performance artist Simon Mayer invites the audience to learn about his life, its contradictions and his unwillingness to submit to categories and conventions. Growing up on a farm between customs, nature, youthful rebellion and rural heavy metal band, Simon Mayer moved to Vienna in 1997, attended the ballet school of the Vienna State Opera, was an aspirant with the Corps de Ballet for one season and had unexpectedly landed in a world where the word “farmer” can also be a swear word. The move was both liberation and restriction. SunBengSitting – “Sunbeng” is Upper Austrian dialect and synonymous with the bench in the sun in front of the farm – negotiates the questions that arise in the field of tension between city and country, home and foreign, pigeonhole thinking and artistic freedom.
“The Upper Austrian comes from a farm, has enjoyed a classical ballet education and has internalized both in such a way that he fuses them on stage into a new entity that defies any cliché or pigeonholing. He is disciplined and radical, he goes naked, and he surprises, even amuses his audience by stomping, jumping and repeating traditional step sequences to the rhythm of folk dances in such an unprotected manner. The man should be remembered.”
Isabella Wallnöfer, Die Presse, 09. November 2014
Performance, choreography, music: Simon Mayer
Sound and live loop: Pascal Holper
Lighting design: Lucas Gruber, Hannes Ruschbaschan
Lighting design on tour: Sveta Schwin
Production: Sophie Schmeiser
Technical director: Jeroen Smith
Touring and production management: Lisa Anetsmann / Art in Motion
Artistic consulting: Frans Poelstra
Support: Elio Gervasi/raum 33, ROSAS, Kunstenzentrum BUDA, shareyourdarlings platform.
Simon Mayer, born in 1984 in Austria, is a choreographer, musician, and performer. He studied at the Vienna State Opera Ballet School and at P.A.R.T.S. in Brussels. Simon was also a member of the Vienna State Opera Ballet. As a musician and a singer, Simon founded and played in several bands (Rising Halfmoon, C.O.P.), released audio performances of his stage productions and still creates his own music. As a dancer, choreographer and musician, he has been involved in productions by Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker/Rosas (The Song), Wim Vandekeybus and Zita Swoon. His choreographic repertoire includes solos, duets, group pieces, as well as socially engaged and immersive events. In 2017, he received the Outstanding Artist Award of the Austrian Federal Chancellery, and in 2018 the Recognition Award of the Province of Upper Austria.
