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Mercury Rising
Mercury Rising emerges from a phenomenological excavation of language. Created in collaboration with and performed by Dawn Jani Birley, Rita Mazza, and Lukas Malkowski, the performance charts both ancient and future non-linear languages, navigating the terrain between communication, gesture, agency, and physicality.
Mercury Rising positions the body as a volatile site of discourse—a place where meaning is made, unmade, and transformed through movement.
While inviting its audience to decipher an abundance of signs, the work also explores the slippery nature of interpretation and ultimately releases us from the need for the literal or the explanatory. Incorporating multiple sign languages, and created for all audiences—including Deaf and hearing audiences—Mercury Rising addresses the complexity of human communication on the brink of a paradigm shift. What we share, in the end, is not certainty—but the impossibility of full understanding, and the urge to connect nonetheless.
Credits
Choreography: Jefta van Dinther | Created and performed by: Rita Mazza, Dawn Jani Birley, Lukas Malkowski | Costumes and stage: Cristina Nyffeler | Lighting design: Jonatan Winbo | Sound design: David Kiers, including "Run for Your Life (feat. La Chat)" by Clipping, "Cangilón" by Nicolás Jaar and "Momentaries" by Bjarni Gunnarsson | Backdrop surface: Gonçalo Sena | Dramaturgy: Gabriel Smeets | Artistic advice: Maja Zimmermann | Rehearsal director: Tomislav Feller
Technical direction: Andrea Parolin and Fabian Bleisch | Light: Fabian Bleisch | Sound: Andrea Parolin | Management: Sven Neumann | Distribution: Sarah De Ganck, ART HAPPENS | Production management: Uta Engel and Romy Hansford-Gerber | Financial management: transmissions GmbH (DE) and Interim kultur AB (SE)
Mercury Rising is produced by Jefta van Dinther | Co-production: Norrlandsoperan Umeå, Cndc – Angers (Accueil Studio), Dansens Hus Stockholm, Dansnät Sverige, HAU Hebbel am Ufer Berlin and PACT Zollverein Essen | Funded by: Berlin Senate Department for Culture and Social Cohesion and Fonds Darstellende Künste
In 2025 Jefta van Dinther was funded by the Berlin Senate Department for Culture and Social Cohesion and Swedish Arts Council
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Artwork: ©Adam Munnings & ©Rhys Powell / Press Photography: ©Cecilia Gaeta
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Work
Mercury Rising
Mercury Rising emerges from a phenomenological excavation of language. Created in collaboration with and performed by Dawn Jani Birley, Rita Mazza, and Lukas Malkowski, the performance charts both ancient and future non-linear languages, navigating the terrain between communication, gesture, agency, and physicality.
Mercury Rising positions the body as a volatile site of discourse—a place where meaning is made, unmade, and transformed through movement.
While inviting its audience to decipher an abundance of signs, the work also explores the slippery nature of interpretation and ultimately releases us from the need for the literal or the explanatory. Incorporating multiple sign languages, and created for all audiences—including Deaf and hearing audiences—Mercury Rising addresses the complexity of human communication on the brink of a paradigm shift. What we share, in the end, is not certainty—but the impossibility of full understanding, and the urge to connect nonetheless.
Credits
Choreography: Jefta van Dinther | Created and performed by: Rita Mazza, Dawn Jani Birley, Lukas Malkowski | Costumes and stage: Cristina Nyffeler | Lighting design: Jonatan Winbo | Sound design: David Kiers, including "Run for Your Life (feat. La Chat)" by Clipping, "Cangilón" by Nicolás Jaar and "Momentaries" by Bjarni Gunnarsson | Backdrop surface: Gonçalo Sena | Dramaturgy: Gabriel Smeets | Artistic advice: Maja Zimmermann | Rehearsal director: Tomislav Feller
Technical direction: Andrea Parolin and Fabian Bleisch | Light: Fabian Bleisch | Sound: Andrea Parolin | Management: Sven Neumann | Distribution: Sarah De Ganck, ART HAPPENS | Production management: Uta Engel and Romy Hansford-Gerber | Financial management: transmissions GmbH (DE) and Interim kultur AB (SE)
Mercury Rising is produced by Jefta van Dinther | Co-production: Norrlandsoperan Umeå, Cndc – Angers (Accueil Studio), Dansens Hus Stockholm, Dansnät Sverige, HAU Hebbel am Ufer Berlin and PACT Zollverein Essen | Funded by: Berlin Senate Department for Culture and Social Cohesion and Fonds Darstellende Künste
In 2025 Jefta van Dinther was funded by the Berlin Senate Department for Culture and Social Cohesion and Swedish Arts Council
Resources
Images
Artwork: ©Adam Munnings & ©Rhys Powell / Press Photography: ©Cecilia Gaeta
Videos
