As the resident house cow of Tanzhaus Zürich, Soya the Cow takes the audience on a monthly walk through Zürich, usually on Thursday at 12:30 for an extended philosophical-artistic lunch break.
Inspired by the work of other artists working at Tanzhaus Zürich, Soya invites the audience to (re)discover the city with a fresh pair of eyes. The focus is deliberately on the presence of non-human bodies: dogs walking their friends; pigeons that have transformed a monument into their toilet; bodies of killed animals that are carried through the streets by humans as food or clothing. In a playful and challenging way, Soya the Cow calls for a new constitution of the relationship between humans and other animals, based on our common animality.
Animal rights, climate activism, music and queer feminism, seasoned with a good dose of drag: here is Soya the Cow. The alter ego of performer, musician and activist Daniel Hellmann blurs the lines between man and woman, human and cow, and manages to find a balance between the serious desire to change the world and a humorous sense of lightness. After having participated in protests for animal rights and for the climate, in television programs, theaters and art festivals all over the world, the singing drag cow appears at lila. Queer festival with a musical program full of emotional songs and surprising storytelling. What would our lives be like if we stopped cutting others into pieces? Can we be free if not everyone is? An intimate, moving and raw performance, which challenges the image of the human being as the center of the universe.
As the resident house cow of Tanzhaus Zürich, Soya the Cow takes the audience on a monthly walk through Zürich, this week for a special evening edition of the walk.
Inspired by the work of other artists working at Tanzhaus Zürich, Soya invites the audience to (re)discover the city with a fresh pair of eyes. The focus is deliberately on the presence of non-human bodies: dogs walking their friends; pigeons that have transformed a monument into their toilet; bodies of killed animals that are carried through the streets by humans as food or clothing. In a playful and challenging way, Soya the Cow calls for a new constitution of the relationship between humans and other animals, based on our common animality.
Animal rights, climate activism, music and queer feminism: That is Soya the Cow. She takes the audience on a performative walk through the city with a focus on the presence of non-human bodies. For once, dogs, pigeons and dead animals being carried through the streets by humans as food or clothing should dominate the awareness of those on the walk.
Queere Tiere (queer animals) is a new music theater play. The two Zurich-based artists Daniel Hellmann and Coco Schwarz present themselves on stage in their artistic personas Soya the Cow and Piano Prince. Together, they joyfully, humorously, and sensually recount surprising stories and songs about the diversity of sexualities, forms of love, and life in the animal world. Drawing from their personal perspective as queer human animals, the artists interweave stories of real queer animals and animals from myths and fairy tales. The theme of transformation serves as inspiration and a leitmotif here—both in terms of music and text.
Set against a simple backdrop, consisting of an electric piano, a wheel of fortune, and two richly costumed mythical hybrid creatures, the audience is immersed in a fascinating world where gay sheep, lesbian albatrosses, hermaphrodite snails, wolves disguised as grandmothers, and transgender clownfish coexist. The result is a complex image of a nature liberated from heteronormative constraints of interpretation and transmission, making visible and celebrating life in its richly diverse forms of existence.