XE [zi:]

An interactive dance film by Darja Reznikova

What if language fails us? What if words can’t hold the weight of who we are?
Xe [zi:] is an immersive, interactive dance film that confronts the limits of language in expressing gender identity. What power do pronouns carry? How do words shape, confine, liberate—or fail—our sense of self?

Xe, Ze, Ve, E, Te, Sie, Thon, Tey, Ey, Per, Peh, Fae...
These are more than sounds; they are signals of identity, resistance, transformation.
Language brings awareness but also reinforces the binaries we long to transcend.
Male. Female. Both. Neither.
Beyond the vocabulary lies a truth too fluid to be fixed.

In Xe [zi:], seven dancers reveal deeply personal journeys through gender identity, embodying the complexities of being in a world where language still catches up. Set inside a repurposed, vacant building—reimagined as a dreamlike, maze-like home crafted from recycled materials—the audience chooses their own path, moving room to room in a dynamic blend of live performance and virtual projection.

Each space holds a fragment of the story.
Each encounter reframes the body, the gaze, the word.
Gender here is not an answer, but an evolving question.

The work unfolds in eight interwoven parts, viewable in any order, creating a nonlinear experience as fluid as the identities it explores.

Xe [zi:] invites you to step inside the in-between—where body, word, and movement collide.

Credits

Episodes & Performers:

• 1. XE [zi:] Opening - João Kreth d’Orey
• 2. Lost in Translation - Felix Chang
• 3. The Living Room - Marco Labellarte and Cecilia Ponteprimo
• 4. Deep Blue Sea - Miriam Markl
• 5. Re-birth - Anthony Selwyn
• 6. Llewellyn Mnguni
• 7. Projections - Lorenzo Ponteprimo
• 8. The Gathering - Miriam Markl, Lorenzo und Cecilia Ponteprimo, Felix Chang, Anthony Selwyn, Marco Labellarte, João Kreth d’Orey, Sabio Janiak

Concept & Choreography & Direction: Darja Reznikova in collaboration with the performers

Dramaturgy: Angela Wendt

Lighting & Set Design: Mireille Solomon
Costume Design: Susana Florêncio

Videography: Gothamfotografia

Location: Altes Stromwerk Mannheim

Funding & Support

The project was supported by the NATIONAL PERFORMANCE NETWORK – STEPPING OUT, funded by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media as part of the NEUSTART KULTUR Aid Programme Dance, the Cultural Office Mannheim and the Landesbank Baden-Württemberg.
Cooperation partners are Inter-Actions Studios, Dance Professional Mannheim, Theater Felina-Areal and Nachmarkt am Stromwerk.

Company Information

SoBo Productions is a contemporary dance company founded and directed by Darja Reznikova with its main base in Mannheim, Germany. The company operates in the context of Darja's ongoing research into inter- and transdisciplinarity and stands in accord with her SoundBody (SoBo) theory, which explores integrative voice and movement work based on the science of sound and vibration.

The company’s productions encompass visceral stage, site-specific and film works with the aim to generate visually, acoustically and emotionally transformative content. Each project strives towards a holistic constellation of body, space and sound, which can be immersively experienced by the audience.

Booking & Contact

If you would like to book XE [zi:] as a whole or separate episodes, live or digital on demand, please get in touch:

info@sobopro.com

If you like our work and would like to support the company with a donation, we would be very grateful:

https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/sobopro

Thanks for watching!