Bambi van Balen

Barricade Ballet

The floating 'clouds' were once an active protest wall and street performance. The film shows the choreography and action training in Dortmund where citizens train how to use the inflatable “mirror cubes” to protest. The aerial footage captures the moment when they join forces for this joint action against a march by neo-Nazis. The dream is broken a week later, seen in flashes of the actual protests, when police cut up the sculptures. The cubes were made during an intensive program at schools and in the theater. If you view the action as a theater piece, there are many types of actors: the theater, city council, students, police, artists, media and many demonstrators. Bambi van Balen is an activist artist and founder of Tools for Action. They gives workshops to art and activist groups for various political agendas, such as climate justice, anti-fascism, transvisibility and commemoration.