Zapfenstreich – Mother Europe

The sight of grand military parades stirs an ambivalent discomfort in many. Boys* In Sync examines the fascination of the symbolic national display of power and embraces the ambivalence and discomfort of looking for the cracks.

The theatre performance „ZAPFENSTREICH – Mother Europe“ is discussing the depiction of
military power. The source material is the video (the choreographies, songs, and comments) of
the 2021 live broadcast of the German Zapfenstreich military ceremony

Titel: Zapfenstreich – Mother Europe
Concept by: Boys* in Sync // Simon David Zeller, Jakob Schnack Krog, Ragni Halle, Jay Fiskerstrand, Gregers Hansen
Premiere: April 2024 at Toaster/Husets Teater, Copenhagen
Duration: 55 minutes
Language: English
Homepage: www.boysinsync.com
Price: 40.000 DKK / 5360 €

Tecnical Rider

About the performance

In 2021 the German chancellor Angela Merkel steps down after 16 years in office. She is being honored with a grand military ceremony called the Zapfenstreich. Boys* in Sync re-enacts the live broadcasting of the parade, asking: where is the queerness in this public display of synchronicity and power?
As performers and dancers from different European countries Boys* in Sync is treating the military movements as choreographies, examining the politics of masculinity, conformity and national symbolism. What are these choreographies missing? What strategies are needed to deconstruct them? How can one find the cracks and fill them with air, wigs and intimacy?

About Boys* in Sync

Boys* in Sync is a transdisciplinary performance collective from South Africa, Denmark, Norway and Germany. Our works combine elements and methods of contemporary dance, post dramatic theatre and the South African storytelling culture as an expression of our artistic backgrounds. We work on the basis of our respective gender constructions, personal biographies & body archives.