Where Sound Becomes Touch

Der Ozean

by: LA CAGE

Premiere: 31. October 2025

Other Performances: 1 & 2. November 2025

Location: Ballhaus Ost, Berlin

Review by: Yu Bai

Walking into the performance space of Der Ozean is akin to entering a body of

water, one defined by gentle movement, soft immersion, and subtle thresholds. A

saltwater fountain lies at the centre of the room, its sculptural extensions inviting the

audience to recline, feel rhythmic vibrations beneath their bodies, and receive small

glasses of liquid through the performance’s opening gesture. This immediate physical

invitation to taste, feel, and hear sets the tone for what follows: an exploration of

parenthood as both a nurturing and expansive condition, filled with vulnerability,

endurance, and transformation.

The sound world composed by Genoël von Lilienstern moves fluidly between

intimacy and vastness. New Age inflections blend with field recordings, microtonal

synthesiser textures merge with layered human voices, and subsonic vibrations turn

listening into a full-body experience. Four mover-singers guide the audience not through narrative but through presence, choreography, and a multimodal language of voice, sign, and movement. The inclusive framing that welcomes Deaf and hearing bodies, adults, children, and infants alike becomes part of the work’s essence. Access,

perception, care, and shared experience are not added themes but structural principles.

What struck me most was the calm intensity of the performance. Water appeared

in many guises: salt water on arrival, milky and crimson drinks midway through the hour, each gesture echoing nourishment and bodily connection. These moments rippled outward into the vibrating floor, the soft choreography, and the hushed voices of the performers. The piece unfolded seamlessly, each sensory layer evolving into the next until sound became touch, taste became memory, and movement became

attentiveness. The cohesion across this continuous flow was remarkable. There was no

sense of pause or detachment, only a deepening immersion in a shared field of perception.

PC: Christina Voigt

At its core, Der Ozean carried an intimate and raw energy. Over time it felt as

though each performer invited the audience into something personal: the act of carrying, birthing, and caring, expressed not through storytelling but through resonance and presence. The performers did not describe dependency or exhaustion; they embodied them. The audience, reclining and relaxed, responded with quiet attentiveness. I attended with my one-year-old child and witnessed something rare: her complete engagement from beginning to end. For both children and adults, this was not a performance to watch but an environment to inhabit. This is a performance that does not simply depict parenthood; it feels like it.

That sense of shared vulnerability extended beyond the performance space.

Watching Der Ozean within Berlin’s independent performance scene, I could not help

but read its gestures of care and inclusion as inherently political. To me, the work

resonates as more than an aesthetic experiment; it feels like a quiet act of resistance. In a cultural climate marked by growing precarity for artists and an unsettling rise in right-wing rhetoric across Germany, the performance insists on vulnerability, collectivity, and interdependence. These values stand in stark contrast to the dominant tropes of strength, separation, and self-sufficiency. La Cage’s inclusive approach, embracing Deaf and hearing audiences, infants and adults, models a community built on connection rather than exclusion. In Berlin’s fragmented cultural landscape, this gesture becomes timely and necessary, reclaiming softness as power and connection as action.

Credits:

La Cage was founded in Berlin and Paris in 2015. The company combines musical and sculptural forms in performative formats.

Concept, directing, stage Aliénor Dauchez

Composition Genoël von Lilienstern

Dramaturgy Bastian Zimmermann

Outside eye Jette Büchsenschütz

Access-dramaturgy Athena Lange

Costumes Konstantin von Sichart

Drinks Ayami Awazuhara

Singing/dance Dessa Ganda, Josefine Mühle, Sabine Scherbel

Sound direction Riccardo Castagnola

Light Madison Pomarico

Director's assistant Jojo Büttler

Stage design, artistic collaboration Roberta Faust

Interpretation in german / german

Sign language Juliane Kessler

Interpretation German / German Sign Language (premiere) Leo Nagel Interpretation German / German Sign Language (rehearsals) Lisa Schuler Internship Melina Roch Communication and distribution  Astrid Rostaing

Marketing and PR Apricot Productions

Graphic design Konstantin von Sichart

Production Paula Haefele

A production by La Cage. Co-produced by Le Phénix – scène nationale Valenciennes pôle européen de création. With the kind support of Musikfonds, Région Hauts-de-France, Impuls neue Musik together with gvl (Gesellschaft zur Verwertung von Leistungsschutzrechten), Maison de la Musique Contemporaine, SACEM Société des auteurs, compositeurs et éditeurs de musique. In cooperation with Ballhaus Ost Berlin, LOUDsoft – musical experiences for children, young people, and adults, Maison de la Culture d’Amiens as part of the residency support program of DRAC Hauts-de-France, Theaterhaus Mitte.

Photos:

Naima Maleika