Rhythm, counters, screams, sweat and kicks – is there also room for fear in martial arts training, which is generally associated with aggression and fearlessness? Based on research into the relationship between female fear and patriarchal dominance culture, the multimedia performance explores martial arts as a means of transforming fear into strength. Is it possible as a woman to reclaim a historically male-dominated place and find a new form of togetherness within the rules?

The artists Milena Bühring and Klara Kirsch team up with young kickboxers Aylin Telli, Paulina Karam and the dramaturge Enrico Bordieri. Between gym, TikTok, academic feminism and the reality of life for migrant teenage girls, the team tries to find a way of dealing with fear that can withstand the ambivalence between fantasy and real threat. Will it come to a fight?

Between performance, theater and video, artists Klara Kirsch and Milena Bühring have been working as a duo and in changing constellations since 2020. For »Fighting 4 Fear«, they are collaborating for the second time with dramaturge Enrico Bordieri. It is their first piece in Ballhaus Ost.