Heat Island (2025)

Chiara Bartl-Salvi
Performance (45 minutes)

Premiere Tanzquartier Wien, 15.5.25

Heat Island brings the 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 away layers of ground 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. Sparks carve fleeting traces across the surface, marks of memory, while the live soundscape shifts from precise rhythmic pulses reminiscent of street traffic an car engines to overheated, dissolving atmospheres. Heat Island is both a reflection on urban temporality and a choreography of friction and transformation.

Conzept, Choreography, Direction Chiara Bartl-Salvi Performers Chihiro Araki, Chiara Bartl-Salvi, Elena Francalanci Sound Paul Ebhart Stage and Shoes Patrick Winkler Lightdesign Oskar Ott – Coproduction Chiara Bartl-Salvi, Tanzquartier Wien, Toihaus Salzburg Thanks to Bears in the Park, Cornelia Böhnisch, 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

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

Trailer:

Pictures by: © Paola Lesslhumer

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