Developed especially for the SIGNALWEGE exhibition at the Rudolf Virchow Center for Experimental Biomedicine in Würzburg, Break it Down uses dance and rap music to open up complex scientific and religious issues and find connections.

The lyrics, written in collaboration with the musician Young roDDie (Cameroon/Mannheim), quote biomedical research and existential questions. The song by Young roDDie was integrated into the dance performance, which was presented and filmed at the Rudolf Virchow Center.

I developed the choreography in collaboration with professional dancers and participants interested in the topic (including some scientists!). It translates biomolecular interactions, such as those between proteins and other molecules, which are of fundamental importance for the whole organism – while at the same time addressing religious and interpersonal issues.

Specific structures in protein molecules (i.e., ‘random coils’) as well as actual tasks of proteins in the cell were interpreted in the performance, such as the ‘motor proteins’ that are responsible for transporting substances within the cell and through the cell’s membrane.

The final scene of the performance, as well as the refrain in the end of the rap song – “It’s a jungle in there” – refers to the crowded, competitive environment in every human cell, the so-called ‘molecular crowding’ in the cytoplasm. At the same time, it is a reference to the incredible complexity of the human body – each cell is densely packed and full of many unsolved mysteries. This final scene was reproduced in a life-sized group of dancers, which stood on a ledge above the video in the exhibition.

Read the song lyrics by Young roDDie and Janet Grau.