An Evening on the Poetry of Failure
laborgras feat. Liam Byrne & Ensemble

One step too soon.
One movement too late.
A gesture that strikes the void.

We live as if there were no such thing as falling. As if everything had to succeed. As if control were a promise. Yet falling, missing the mark, and new beginnings accompany us at each step. So what if failure holds more than mere defeat? What if it reveals a poetry of its own – fragile, ambiguous, and deeply human?

With its new production Joyful Failure, laborgras turns its gaze to those moments when something gets out of balance. Six dancers and a musician move between approximation and withdrawal, trusting and loss, ease and risk. Bodies interact, support one another, withdraw, and find themselves wavering. Gestures unravel, movements break off and reappear transformed. What had just been providing stability begins to tip over. What seems lost leaves a trace.

Nothing starts from scratch.

Between stumbling and rising, between loss and new beginnings, a space unfolds where what is slipping away is not suppressed but remains visible – humorous, defiant, alive. Liam Byrne’s live performance on the viola da gamba brings early music and electronic sounds together. A sonic space emerges, shaped by physical closeness, intimacy, and fragile presence. Music and movement interact and shift one another. Failure and vulnerability are not an end here. They are a state of openness. An invitation to embrace uncertainty.

Trying.
Failing.
Starting anew.

Drawing on Samuel Beckett’s famous words, “Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.” Joyful Failure conceives failure as movement itself: as a continuous process of becoming, resolving, and reorganizing.

Joyful Failure invites us to slow down our perception and to notice moments when something briefly slips away – revealing what often remains hidden: our vulnerability, our ambivalence, and the contradictory demands of connection.

Concept / Artistic Direction: laborgras (Renate Graziadei & Arthur Stäldi) Choreography: laborgras in collaboration with the dancers Abraham Iglesias Rodriguez, Tian Gao, Miguel González Padilla, Rosalind Masson, Djamila Polo Dramaturgy: Arthur Stäldi Music: Liam Byrne Costume Design: Claudia Janitschek Lighting Design: Kevin Sock Press and Public Relations: Marcelo Vilela da Silva Distribution: Micaela Trigo Graphic Design: Mia Sedding Photography: Phil Dera Hair and Make-up Pictures: Adriana Metzlaff Artistic Production Management: Urszula Heuwinkel