„We are the players, and we are the game. Looks, words, emotions, feelings, opportunities, motivations, limits, energies… are flying. The game is full of rules and agreements and captures the players completely within the arms appearances and pretense. Do we recognize the fine line between devotion and dependence?“
Olga Labovkina

As a starting point and representation for the working process Laborkina chose the game of ping-pong, in which the motions of the opponent cause a continues reaction and counter-reactions. The often rapid play of the game always additionally includes a set of agreements, which encapture the players. The passion and subterfuge within the game, the unavoidable reactions, the fixation on the pitch, as well as the element of surprise are part of the winners tactics. The balls roll and the impulses fly, while the dancers test out the lines between initial movement and reaction.
Thus, in this piece, principles of ping pong interweave with the varied means of expression in contemporary dance. In this humorous work by Labovkina and the company, the choreography evolves into a reflection of appearance and reality within relationships.

Before the performance begins, the audience is warmly invited to participate in an introduction into movement and its intention and motive.

Olga Labovkina has received several awards for her choreographic work, including at the International Festival of Modern Choreography IFMC (Belarus). After graduating in choreography from the Grodno State Art Academy, Belarus, she worked as a dancer under the direction of Dmitry Kurakulov in the contemporary dance group TAD. She is a alumna of the Vaganova Ballet Academy (magistracy, 2011-13). 2008 - 2018 Founder and artistic director of the dance theater KARAKULI (Minsk, Belarus). The works created by the company have been presented in Israel, Italy, Germany, Russia, etc. and at various international festivals in Switzerland, Russia, Poland, and Ukraine. Furthermore, Olga Labovkina is the winner of the 2017 competition for young choreographers of the international dance festival „CONTEXT. Diana Vishneva“ in Russia. As a dancer and choreographer, she realized her projects in residencies at KORZO Art Production Company (Netherlands), Vitlycke - Center for Performing Arts (Sweden), reSITE & KUNSTrePUBLIK - Center for Art and Urbanism (Berlin), Ponec Theater (Prague, Czech Republic), Zurich University of the Arts (Switzerland). As a guest choreographer, director, and lecturer she collaborates with theaters and dance companies in Ukraine; Belarus and in other parts of Europe, in Germany most recently in 2019 for the dance company in Giessen, as well as Russia.

The company Of Curious Nature brings dancers from all over the world together in northwestern Germany. Of Curious Nature developed an inspiringly diverse identity, which commits fully to contemporary dance. The company’s movement language is rooted within it’s working with the cultural present and contemporary time, which contributes to it being intensive and widely multi-emotional, while walking on the fine line between delicate inwardness and core-shaking energy. Transferred from the current impulses of life, it offers with artistic accuracy a diverse, sometimes surprising, but always relatable connections to today’s world, while engaging a heterogenic audience. Since 2019 Helge Letonja leads as artistic director.