UBU is a multidisciplinary ensemble of musicians and dancers. The ensemble develops new concert performances at the points of friction and in the spaces of collison between music, dance and other art forms. uBu exists since 2016 and is based in Cologne.
We are…
Anna Neubert
Magdalena Öttl
Esther Saladin
Sophia Spies
Antonia Stäcker
Christoph Stöber
Yves Ytier
We use our cast of musicians and dancers to interpret and stage contemporary music as well as classical works from multidisciplinary perspectives and with a focus on movement and physicality.
In the process, we explore the exchange of methods, knowledge and understanding of interpretation in the continuous collaboration of the ensemble members.
We are interested in consciously crossing the boundaries of traditional formats, role attributions and artistic genres, uncovering the undreamed-of potential of the concert and reaching a heterogeneous, adventurous audience through diverse points of contact.
News & Echo
New perspectives for future mutations, collisions and explosions: from 2023 on for the next three years, uBu will receive the Ensembleförderung Musik from the Ministry of Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia.
"That it only takes the right performers to quickly turn the impression of complexity into the opposite was shown by the "Ensemble Ubu" (...) In a mixture of Ballet Mécanique and the aesthetics of René Magritte, of Dada and the theatre of the surrealist Alfred Jarry, everyone acted here in a spectacle that was as grotesque as it was poetic".
(Heidelberger Nachrichten, on the Schwetzingen Festival 2018)
"The dancers sway on a small bench as if under the control of others, become unbalanced, hang in imaginary ropes, on invisible strings. Is it the musicians who, as puppeteers, dictate the movements with their sound? (...)Who dominates whom? Who counteracts what? A play that, without being explicitly political, has a high potential for dealing with today's society."
(Natalie Godziak, Hoertz24, 2019)
Latest Projects
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Mutants in Music: II. Becoming uBu
Ensemble uBu legt sich in “Mutants in Music: II.Becoming uBu” selbst auf den Grill, um herauszufinden: Braucht es überhaupt eine musikalische, tänzerische oder sonstige Identität, oder kommt man auch ohne klar?
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Mutants in Music: I. Minimal Dominion
In uBu's three-part concert series "Mutants in Music", artists and audiences are confronted with the question of how music exerts power over the human body.
Transformation, manipulation, cooperation. For this purpose, two newly created works meet in the first edition of "Mutants in Music: I. Minimal Dominion".
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What does a concert hall dream of?
Winter 20/21, in Lockdown: uBu performatively explores the almost lifeless, sleeping building of the Kölner Philharmonie with short 360-degree videos between music and dance. No humming of voices from an expectant audience, no thunderous applause. What does a concert hall dream of?
Upcoming
01.12.2023
Tanzfaktur Köln- View project
- Tickets
- 7:00 PM
Mutants in Music: II. Becoming uBu
Ensemble uBu legt sich in “Mutants in Music: II.Becoming uBu” selbst auf den Grill, um herauszufinden: Braucht es überhaupt eine musikalische, tänzerische oder sonstige Identität, oder kommt man auch ohne klar?
03.12.2023
Frankfurt LAB- View project
- Tickets
- 5:00 PM
Mutants in Music: II. Becoming uBu
05.12.2023
resonanzraum St. Pauli, Hamburg- View project
- Tickets
- 7:00 PM
Mutants in Music: II. Becoming uBu
Ensemble uBu legt sich in “Mutants in Music: II.Becoming uBu” selbst auf den Grill, um herauszufinden: Braucht es überhaupt eine musikalische, tänzerische oder sonstige Identität, oder kommt man auch ohne klar?