Olga de Soto. Reconstruction of a Danse Macabre

As part of the Reina Sofía Museum’s Fissures programme, the multi-disciplinary artist, Olga de Soto, presents a new project called Reconstruction of a Danse Macabre. The exhibition revisits Der Grüner Tisch (The Green Table) by Kurt Joos from Germany, and will be on display from 28 February to 1 July in the Sabatini Building, Space 1 at the Reina Sofía Museum.

Der grüne Tisch (The Green Table) is a legendary anti-war piece in the history of contemporary dance. Its roots lie in the macabre medieval dances and it is inspired by highly political texts written by Kurt Tucholsky and Carl von Ossietzky. The tumultuous years of Hitler’s German government forced the creator and his company into exile due to his religion. The dance piece has been performed all over the world since then.

In this exhibition, Olga de Soto delves into the testimonies of those who have seen the show and those who have performed it through dance.  This is all compiled in more than 67 hours of testimonies in four different languages, six countries and on two continents. Endowed with a grammar, language and rhythm of its own, this performative archive was first presented on stage in An Introduction.

The choreographer, dancer and dance researcher, Olga de Soto has become a major figure for dance due to her undeniable reflection on discipline and oral and corporal memory.

Image Credit:

Rehearsals of The Green Table (Kurt Jooss, 1932), 1964. Photography: Ger J. van Leeuwen