Sabeth Danneberg is often on the go and always carries a lot of luggage with her on the way to her performances. She stows carabiners, ropes, tools, and her mast in several suitcases and bags. While the mast can be disassembled, the individual parts are still two meters long. This custom-made piece has been accompanying her for many years and is slowly getting the perfect grip.
She also has her props and costumes in a large backpack. When she moves on the mast, she always has to wear at least two layers of clothing to protect herself. Without that, her skin would burn during the acrobatic stunts, climbing, and quick slides down. Her feet also need protection. She wears martial arts shoes, wears down the soles, and works on the shoe like a ballet dancer until it fits perfectly and gives her a secure grip.
Sabeth Dannenberg is not only an acrobat on the Chinese pole, who brings physical extremes to the stage with apparent ease. She independently develops her pieces from political and social topics and researches intensely current issues. With the "Let's go" scholarship from the state, she is currently realizing the piece "Sweating Blood", which deals with the taboo subject of menstruation.
This extreme situation makes it a topic. Why does the body always have to function on stage and why is it a societal taboo to talk about it? "Menstrual blood must not be visible," says Dannenberg, referring to blue liquids in commercials for hygiene products.
With her choice of topics, she hits a nerve. Recently, the debate about how (or rather not how) to deal with period blood is growing larger. When pink plastic gloves for handling hygiene products were presented on a German television show, an enormous shitstorm broke out. An international debate is being held about free hygiene products, menstrual cups can now be purchased in every drugstore, and first pioneers report about the successful so-called "Free Bleeding".
Books like "Ebbe und Blut" by Eva Wünsch and Luisa Stömer and "Periode ist politisch" by Franka Frei deal with the topic and provide clarification. All these impressions and personal experiences come together in the development of the piece. When Dannenberg physically experiences menstrual pain and abdominal cramps, she stores her sensations and re-enacts them acrobatically on the Chinese pole. Right on stage, she tests the movements and challenges her body to the extreme. It looks breathtaking and spectacular when she sits four meters above the ground on the crown of her Chinese pole and ignores gravity without a safety rope.
The pole is held at four guy points that are wrapped around massive stones. Each of the stations weighs 250 kilograms, but the long and thin pole seems as if it could tip over at any moment and cause the dancer to fall into the depths.
It is this magical circus tension and the inability to look away that captivates the audience during the Chinese pole dance. In her rehearsals, Dannenberg improvises, her facial features twisted in pain, and the climbing resembles a struggle. Dannenberg works her way piece by piece up the pole, slowly pulling herself up while repeatedly losing grip in a controlled manner, sliding down, and briefly stopping just above the ground. She displays the physical pain of abdominal cramps, appearing vulnerable yet incredibly powerful at the same time. Every muscle is tensed, and her dignified control of her body is fascinating. Time and again, she will return to the pole in the coming weeks to further develop the piece.
That she can rehearse in the Flottmann-Hallen and that everyone on site knows how a Chinese pole is set up is a great fortune, as not many theater and stage workers know this yet. However, the recognition of this art form is continually rising, and the fan base is also growing.
