Daniel Hellmann
Two shows. Two different genders. Two takes on sex work.
Anne Welenc & Daniel Hellmann
The performances are on the borderline between documentary theatre and auto-fiction. They function as independent pieces, but in their combination they open up further spaces for reflection. Does the audience of a young woman take away the self-determined handling of her sexuality in the same way as a young man ? What kind of prejudices arise ? Which fantasies are stimulated ? To what extent do the two figures differ as projection screens ?
Whatever you believe about prostitution, prepare to have your assumptions challenged… Hellmann is forthright about the myriad roles he plays, positioning his audiences as voyeurs, daring them to look honestly at their own sexual fantasies
San Francisco Chronicle
TRAUMBOY
Concept, performance Daniel Hellmann
Dramaturgy Wilma Renfordt
Outside eye Ivan Blagajcevic
Set & costume design, satge management Theres Indermaur
Sound design & music Leo Hofmann
Light Gioia Scanzi
Light & general management Anna Lienert
Production Daniela Lehmann
Dissemination Florence Francisco - Les Productions de la Seine
English translation Melanie Jame Wolf
Production 3art3
Coproduction Gessnerallee Zürich et Festspiele Zürich
With the support of Stadt Zürich Kultur, Fachstelle Kultur Kanton Zürich, Pro Helvetia Schweizer Kultur-Stiftung, Migros Kulturprozent, Nestlé Fondation
pour l’Art, Schweizer Tanzarchiv - Preis für Videodokumentation, wpZimmer Antwerpen
In 2016, this show was part of the Sélection suisse en Avignon, Pro Helvetia and CORODIS device for Swiss artists promotion during the festival OFF d'Avignon.
In 2019, it was also part of the first edition of the Swiss Selection Edinburgh, Pro Helvetia promotion device for helvetic stage during the Fringe Festival Edinburgh.
TRAUMBOY
Daniel is a sex worker. In the solo performance Traumboy he reports on his experiences as a male prostitute. Without shame, honestly and interactively. He talks about the reasons for choosing this profession, describes his clients and their desires. The audience meets a young man who prostitutes himself deliberately. The only problem: the stigma that comes with it. Having sex with strangers for money is still considered a taboo.
Traumboy questions the double standards of our capitalistic and hypersexualized society. The performer's body turns into a projection surface for fears, fantasies and contradictions. He slips into different roles that he plays for his customers – or for the audience?
With this ambiguous self-staging the spectators are challenged to scrutinize their sexual ideals and to take a close look at the sexual being that they consider themselves. Are the boundaries in your mind where you expect them?
As part of the research process for Traumboy – but also as an independent project – Daniel Hellmann has developed the interactive performance Full Service. It is a performance-cum-service offer that pops up in public space or around art venues. Performer Daniel Hellmann is ready to provide any service that spectators or passers-by might wish for – as long as performer and participant manage to agree on a price. The first performances took place in October 2014 at Performa Festival in Ticino, followed by further shows in theatres and at festivals in New York, Zurich, Berlin, among others.
REPRESENTATION DATES
10 february 2022
Unfriesiert Festival of Luzern (CH)
17 novembre 2021
NEXT festival au CC de Steiger, Menen (BE)
25th february 2021 | Report in progress
Unfrisiert Festival, Luzern (CH)
2nd december 2020 | Reported in 2021 because of Covid-19 crisis
NEXT festival au CC de Steiger, Menen (BE)
9th to 11th january 2020
Ballhaus Ost, Berlin (DE)
20th to 23th november 2019
Schlachthaus Theater, Bern (CH)
21th october 2018
Counterpulse, San Francisco (US)
22th september 2018
Ganz New Festival du Student Centre, Zagreb (HR)
7th september 2018
Festival Transform du KLAP, Marseille (FR)
31th july to 25th august 2019 (alternating with Traumgirl)
Fringe Festival / Swiss Selection Edinburgh (UK)
15th july 2018
Kilowatt Festival, Sansepolcro (IT)
17th november 2017
Next Arts Festival - Tielt (BE)
15th april 2017
Festival Clito'Rik au Mac Orlan, Brest (FR)
12th & 13th april 2017
Festival Extra Ball au Centre culturel Suisse, Paris (FR)
24th march 2017
SICK! Festival - Manchester (UK)
15th march 2017
SICK! Festival - Brighton (UK)
7th & 8th march 2017
Festival Something Raw, Amsterdam (NL)
13th & 14th january 2017
Festival Hiroshima, Barcelone (ES)
Creation 2015 et the Gessnerallee à Zürich (find the explotations 2015-2016 of the show in the artistic file).
TRAUMGIRL RMX
Concept Daniel Hellmann
Creation & performance Anne Welenc
Dramaturgy Marc Streit
Advices on dramaturgy Daniel Hellmann
Outside eye Leah Feline
Video & outside eye Michel Wagenschütz
Set & costume design, stage management Theres Indermaur
Light & general management Anna Lienert
Production Lisa Letnansky
Dissemination & production Edinburgh Florence Francisco - Les Productions de la Scène
Production 3art3 - Daniel Hellmann
Coproduction Traumgirl – création 2019
Tanshauz Zürich, Schlachthaus Theater Bern
With the support of Stadt Zürich Kultur, Fachstelle Kultur Canton Zürich, Pro Helvetia – Schweizer Kulturstiftung, Migros Kulturprozent, Xenia – Fachstelle Sexarbeit, SIS Schweizerische Interpretenstiftung, Gwaertler Stiftung, Ernst Göhner Stiftung, Burgergemeinde Bern, Kanton Bern.
Created in august 2019, in the frame of the Swiss Selection Edimburgh, promotion device created and funded by Pro Helvetia during the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
TRAUMGIRL RMX
Kim is an actress. She is also a sex worker, bartender, German, Polish and more. Which identity is most important? In Traumgirl, Kim negotiates what it is like to work in the grey area between 'real work', performance and the so-called 'dirty work'.
Traumgirl was created in response to Daniel Hellmann’s Traumboy, a performance from the perspective of a male sex worker. Anne Welenc adopts an approach between documentary theatre and auto fiction to explore not only female sex work in all its forms, but the themes of sexuality and work in a neoliberal society. What is a woman allowed to reveal about herself or not? And who will pay the price?
Traumgirl was created at Edinburgh Festival Fringe for the Swiss Selection Edinburgh of Pro Helvetia. The Swiss premieres took place at the opening of the new Tanzhaus Zürich and for the 35th anniversary of XENIA - Centre for Sex Work at the Schlachthaus Theater Bern.
In 2021, Traumgirl RMX was rewritten first in English, then in French, following the recent changes that our work, private and sexual lives have undergone in the context of the global epidemic of COVID 19.
The French premiere took place as part of the 14th edition of the Jerk Off 2021 Festival, in partnership with the Swiss Cultural Centre in Paris. Performing for the first time in France, in a context where buying sex is totally illegal, made all the more sense and marked an important step for both the show and the audience. The performance will be updated according to the specific local context of each country where the show is hosted.
REPRESENTATION DATES
17 novembre 2021
NEXT festival au CC de Steiger, Menen (BE)
14 septembre 2021
Centre Culturel Suisse & Jerk Off Festival, Paris (FR)
2nd december 2020 | Reported in 2021 because of Covid-19 crisis
NEXT festival au CC de Steiger, Menen (BE)
9th to 11th january 2020
Ballhaus Ost, Berlin (DE)
20th to 23th november 2019
Schlachthaus Theater, Bern (CH)
7th & 8th september 2019
Tanzhaus, Zurich (CH)
31st july au 25th august 2019 (alternating with Traumboy)
Fringe Festival / Swiss Selection Edinburgh (UK)
Traumboy ©Till Böcker | Wolfgang Probst Culture | Patrick Mettraux
Traumgirl © Michel Wagenschütz
Traumboy & Traumgirl © Patrick Mettraux