WEAPONS OF TENDER FRICTION

A new full-length dance theatre work by Carlos Díaz exploring intimacy, desire, and power through a highly physical movement language. Drawing from a variety of dance languages, the piece investigates how tenderness and violence coexist within human interaction.

It is Carlos Díaz second major production at Gallus Theatre following the November 2024 piece »It is Quiet in Hell«, which was dedicated to the life and poetry of the writer César Vallejo.

Two bodies enter a room filled with desire. They circle each other, touch, embrace, and resist one another. What unfolds is not merely a duet, but a struggle for intimacy in which attraction and aggression remain inextricably linked. The choreography reveals how desire is structured by roles—who leads and who yields, who takes and who allows. These dynamics are not fixed, but are constantly renegotiated, revealing the instability behind familiar images of masculinity and contro In a minimalist stage setting, bodies, costumes, and objects become extensions of this tension. As the performers move from exposure to protection, the piece traces how intimacy can become a battlefield—where tenderness carries power and violence appears under the guise of desire. 

Choreography and direction: Carlos Díaz

Performers: Francisco Chavez, Carlos Díaz, Juan Cruz Luque

Dramaturgy: Frédéric De Carlo

Produktion Assistent: Frank Burkhardt