Frame of reference

“Frame of reference” is a contemporary dance piece by Filip Löbl for four dancers, inspired by and developed with a focus on the potential diversity in today's society. The aim of this work is to explore what it is like to feel and behave differently from what is considered “normal.” In this dance piece, a dancer portrays a person who feels and thinks differently and strives to follow their own path. He/she struggles with an inner conflict caused by the society into which he/she was born: Is it worth risking security for freedom? The other dancers represent society and its defined system.

We believe that we are free individuals from birth, but is that really the case in our civilization? Whether we are aware of it or not, society has already made decisions for us, and from the very beginning we are part of something bigger than ourselves. We are convinced that we live in freedom, and therefore it is completely normal for us to live within this system. Is it conceivable to us that our demanding
lives and the decisions we make are flawed? What if we paused for a moment and thought about it? Can we really make a difference?

Even if we are aware of this, we carry on because it seems like everyone else is doing it too, and normal is right, isn't it? With everything around us changing at an alarming rate and consumer society wanting more and more, we have to
adapt at all costs. But at what cost? Everything has to be bigger, faster, and better.
Our system, based on constant expansion, is ruled by money. In a society that pays little attention to people and their needs and desires, we seem to have become a machine part that must function under all circumstances.
If we try to stand out from the crowd, we risk rejection, reintegration, and more serious consequences than we might have thought. Is freedom worth risking one's own safety?

Credits

Choreography: Filip Löbl
Original music: David Gonzalez
Performance: Tura Gómez Coll, Sonja Stojanović, Roland Géczy, Filip Löbl
Light design: Reinier Martínez Badilla
Supported by: Das Land Steiermark, Stadt Graz, Kristallwerk, Das andere Theater, Tanz Graz
Photo credit: Gerold Fiechtl

Depicting the web — the strands or threads — of a relationship, whether private or socio-political, ranks among the themes most frequently explored in movement imagery, in dance. Nevertheless, the nearly hour-long contemporary dance piece in which Filip Löbl choreographically takes up a significant social thread is a particularly remarkable and atmospherically dense portrayal: one that, in discreet yet precisely illuminated scenes (lighting by Reinier Martinez Baduilla), glosses over nothing; one that, through clear, harsh, and at times brutal moments, exposes the merciless power play within success-driven structures.

Here, however, the focus is not so much— as has often been the case — on the overtly hierarchical aspect, but rather on the dramatic tension between a group compelled to function in enforced homogeneity and a dropout — in this case, a female one.

excerpt from the critique by Eveline Koberg

Performances:

- Premiere at Kristallwerk on the19th of September 2025, Graz, Austria
- Performance at Kristallwerk on the 20th of September 2025, Graz, Austria
- Performance at Kristallwerk on the 21st of September 2025, Graz, Austria
- Performance at Das Lot on the 18th of December 2025, Vienna, Austria
- Performance at Sonnenstainloft on the 20th of December 2025, Linz, Austria

Press

Tanz.at - critique by Eveline Koberg