Heat Island (2025)

Chiara Bartl-Salvi
Performance (45 minutes)

Premiere Tanzquartier Wien, 15.5.25

Heat Island brings urban space into the venue, transforming it through rhythm, friction, sparks, and sound into a pulsating field of possibility. A sealed asphalt ground, the roar of traffic, and the distant chirping of crickets evoke ecological fractures that disrupt ecosystems and demand adaptation. Rather than retreating, three performers scrape the surface with specially prepared shoes, turning friction into the engine of choreography, sound, and light. The performance oscillates between collective rhythm and fragmented gesture, between pop-cultural references and abstract physical states. Subtle allusions to TikTok choreographies, viral trends, and music videos emerge and dissolve as quickly as sparks. Fleeting traces carve across the floor like marks of memory, while the live soundscape shifts from precise rhythmic pulses reminiscent of street traffic and car engines to overheated, dissolving atmospheres. Heat Island is both a reflection on urban temporality and a choreography of friction, transformation, and impermanence.

Conzept, Choreography, Direction Chiara Bartl-Salvi With Chihiro Araki, Chiara Bartl-Salvi, Elena Francalanci Sound Paul Ebhart Choir Leon Leder Stage and Shoes Patrick Winkler Lightdesign Oskar Ott – Coproduction Chiara Bartl-Salvi, Tanzquartier Wien, Toihaus Salzburg Management Nina Samadi Thanks to Bears in the Park, Cornelia Böhnisch, Felix Huber, Lukas Gschwandtner, Lewon Heublein, Leon Leder, Amar Priganica, Alba Rastl, Patrick Winkler, Ingrid Bartl und Roberto Salvi.

Supported by the Federal Ministry Housing, Arts, Culture, Media and Sport Republic of Austria, BMEIA - Austrian Embassy Belgrad, Gerriets

Past shows
20.3.26 Belgrade Dance Festival, Serbia
26.3.26 OGR Torino, Italy
11./12.4.26 DDD Festival, Portugal

Upcoming shows
30.6.26, 01.7.26 Festival de la Cité Lausanne, Swiss
12.9.26 September Sessions Stockholm, Sweden

Trailer

Pictures Paola Lesslhumer

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