In an autofictional musical, Sheena McGrandles interweaves personal experiences with myths and narrations from ancient and contemporary times, in order to speculate about our possible futures and the role of reproduction. Together with a temporary collective of Berlin artists, DAWN explores different perspectives on parenthood and the power of the child as a symbol of hope. Where does the human need to create a family come from? Which bodies may and can reproduce, how and where? What wishes we project onto a child who, as part of a new generation, could permanently change our current society with classic family constructs and role distributions?

Four bodies on the edge of fertility enter into a dialogue with Dawn, a Goddess with rosy fingers, that opens the gates of heaven for the Sun-God to rise. At sundown, this Goddess dies, only to be reborn again the next morning. Together with a small choir of childless people, they create an experimental musical that combines concert, spoken word and performance into a multi-layered and humorous artistic work. Sheena McGrandles’ Figured, was presented in Moving in November’s Traces from November edition 2021.

Sheena McGrandles

Sheena McGrandles is a dancer and choreographer living in Berlin. She works in different contexts such as theatre/stage, education and independent art and culture projects. Her current group of works explores illogical intimacies and radical temporalities as a means of detailed exploration and exaggeration of movement. Her works create hyper-real, multi-narrative and humorous moving landscapes. Sheena presents her works nationally and internationally, including London (The Place), Amsterdam (something raw), Berlin (Sophiensaele), Mexico City (Museo Universitario Del Chopo), Los Angeles (PSSST). She completed her BA at the Laban Centre London and later studied at the HZT/UdK Berlin, where she finished her MA in Solo Dance Authorship. In addition to her work as an artist, Sheena is one of the founding members of neuehäute, where she works on the development of new interdisciplinary platforms and formats for the independent scene in Berlin. In parallel she is part of the collective PSR (performance situation room) who currently curate the new Heizhaus at Uferstudios Berlin.