Biography

Bridge Markland was born in (West-) Berlin in 1961.
2010 marks her 25 years stage anniversary - (if you count school theatre - it would be 36 years!)

dance-theatre-cabaret-performance-artist
transformation artist
writer, actress, art-/ photo model

interdisciplinary dance-theatre-cabaret-performance-art
transgender performances, in which the transformation of gender or species is seen live on stage and is an essential part of the dramatic act
short funny fresh cabaret acts with a comic view on erotics, striptease, gender, feeding of fruit, monsters, art, age ...
performances and theatre pieces with collages of text and music, classic theatre texts are reflected in modern music
biographic performances, modern, pop, subjective interpretations of other peoples lives in collage with popular music of several decades
poetry and literature performances, funny fresh interpretations of Bridges own texts
dancing with the audience / interactive improvisations
with people, furniture, architecture, art, weather ... Bridge Markland is particularly specialized in improvisation with and inside audiences!
eclectic dance /  spontanous dance / dance-clown, grotesque and expressionist dance, post-modern dance, contact-improvisation, disco-club-dance - a very unusual mixture of these dance forms emerges during Bridges dance improvisations which she celebrates everywhere: shopping malls, parks, busstops, trainstations, airports, clubs, dancestudios, living rooms …

Performances of full evening shows at dance-, theatre and performance-festivals. Performances of short pieces and walk-acts at galas, gallery openings, in clubs, at parties, readings, cabarets, various festivals …

Collaborations with artists of various disciplines: cabaret, theatre,dance, music, clowning, childrens theatre, photography, video, film, tv, drag + gender artists, fashion, sculpting, painting, drawing, poetry, puppet-theatre, fire-performance…
and gender scientists!

- 1984-1991 Dance-Theater-Performance Company YoYo-TA performances include: Berlin, Munich, Dresden, Netherlands, New York...

education / research:

-1973 - 1979 active in the school theatre company
-1979 - A-level at Martin-Buber Oberschule in Berlin
-1981-1984 Gymnastics-teacher-education
     - dance-studies with former Mary Wigman-student Gisela Colpe
- 1985-1991 intensive studies of contact-improvisation, new-dance and many other dance forms
- 1991-1994 studied Body-Mind-Centering with Bonnie Bainbridge-Cohen in Massachusetts/USA
- 1991 – 1996 (on and off) time spend in New York City researching in dance-, club- and transgender scenes and performing in many different venues. The times spend in New York were a great inspiration for the artistic work.


grants:

- 1989/90/92 grants from the Berlin government for performances of her company YoYo-TA
- 1991, 92 and 94 grants from the Berlin government and the Academy of Arts in Berlin for her studies in the United States
- 2002 funding by Hauptstadtkulturfonds / (Capital of Germany - art funding)  for go drag! festival
- 2006 funding by the Goethe Institut for performance at Escena Contemporánea Festival Madrid
- 2008 + 2009 several social artproject fundings in Berlin Neukölln for höre ich tanz! / do I hear dance!


-since 1991 solo-programmes

full evening solo shows: (in repertoire at present)


bridgeland zwei - 1996 - German/English, 55 min.
one-woman trans-gender / trans-species performance

in the box - 1998/99 - German/English, 90 min, one intermission
one-woman-zapping-biographies-performance

schiller in the box - 2005 - German, 70 min.
Schiller for the pop music generation
Solo performance about the famous German poet
with Bridge Markland as Friedrich Schiller. For everyone from the age of 15 upwards.

faust in the box - 2006 - German, 82 min., one intermission
Faust for the pop music generation
after Goethes Faust, part one
A collage of the shortened version of the original play with popular music of several decades.

faust in the box / english version - 2008 - English, 90 min., one intermission
Faust for the popmusic generation
                                                  
krug in the box - 2008 - German. 94 min., one intermission 
Heinrich von Kleist: „The broken jug“ for the generations Pop, Rock and popular song




full evening solo/duo show: (in repertoire at present)

                
let’s talk about sex  (2001) 2009 - Bridge Markland + Nikola Lutz / saxophones
- German or English - 60 min. no intermission - or 90 min. one intermission 
Transgender performances, erotic texts, dance, audience interaction, cool saxophone sounds   
www.myspace.com/2baldies (in German) www.nikolalutz.de

projects: (in repertoire at present)

since 2004 collaboration with Jerry Jenkins & his Band of Angels - www.jerryjenkins.de
2007 + 2008, Ballroom Dance Events in Berlin - www.fruehlingsfieber.de
2007, berlin cabaret project

since 2008: höre ich tanz! / do I hear dance!
site specific + audience interactive - dance and music improvisation
with international dancers and musicians



short cabaret performances:
(excerpts of the repertoire, which consists of 18 short performances)

  M.J.  - 1988 - no language,   approx.  10 min. or shorter or longer...
> grotesque dance clown <


Tabledance - 1992 - German or Spanish,  5 min.
> Gitti in her turquoise knitted dress, has an interesting job!  a parody on German phonesex,
in “erotic” German or Spanish language<


The most beautiful woman in the world - 1995 - almost no language,  9 min.
> the sensational transformation from redhaired sexbomb to androgynous creature to macho-man <


BriPi - 1995 - German/English or  English/Spanish, 6 min.
> parody on peepshows, "typical" female body criticisms and the need to have physical contact <


Sweet T. - 1998 - English with German accent...,  5 min.
> the funny transformation of fat old Karl from Berlin (singing Sweet Transvestite from The Rocky Horror Show with a German accent), into a young and slim american drag queen <


The Russian Striptease - 2004 - no language,  7 min.
> gender-gogo-dance in a russian uniform <



engagements in cabaret shows:

Ferro City, 1997 – Varieté Chamäleon – Berlin/Germany, Director: Detlef Winterberg
Viva La Diva, 1998 – Varieté Chamäleon – Berlin/Germany, Director: Detlef Winterberg
Chaos Royal, 1998 – Tollwood Festival – Munich/Germany, Director: Markus Pabst
Variété Kosmos Show, 2000 – Variété Kosmos - St. Gallen/Switzerland, Director: Rico Bandle
Viva La Diva, 2002 – Krystall Palast Varieté – Leipzig/Germany, Director: Susanne Linzer
La Clique, 2006 – The Famous Spiegeltent – Edinburgh Fringe Festival/UK, Director: Markus Pabst
Medium Rare Show, 2007 – Bush Hall - London/UK, concept: Mat Whitley

engagements as theatre actress: (excerpts)

„Angstmän“ (German + English) in „Angstmän“ (Hartmut El Kurdi), since 2003, Platypus Theater for children and young people, Berlin, directed by Anja Scollin
"Clown Jo", "March Hare", "Cheshire Cat", "Tweedle Dee", "Gryphon" and other roles in „Alice“ (German + English) (after “Alice in Wonderland” + “Through the Looking Glass” by Lewis Carrol), since 2009, Platypus Theater for children and young people, Berlin, directed by Kenn Phillips
„Frank N’ Furter“ (German + English) in „Rocky Horror Show“ (Richard O’ Brien), 1997/98, Brandenburger Theater, directed by Christopher Blenkinsop/Anton Rey
„Sal Bagaletto“ = Mafia Gangster (English)  in „Incognito“ (Richard Kuntzevich), Berlin Play Actors , 1996, directed by Rik Maverik



films: (excerpts)

Bridge Markland is one of the protagonists in the documentary film Venus Boyz,
--- a film journey through a universe of female masculinity, Gabriel Baur (CH,USA,D 2001)
--- international premiere: Berlinale Film Festival 2002
- "Vampire" in Blade II, Guillermo del Toro, 2002
- "Hades Woman" in „Honey Baby“ by Mika Kaurismäki. 2002/03
- "Martina” – short film by Jürgen Brüning as part of the film project “fucking different” by Kristian Petersen, 2005

festivals:

Concept and artistic directory of
- bild wort bühne (picture word stage)
women perform their literary products
2001 at Kunsthaus Tacheles, Berlin

Concept and artistic directory / with Diane Torr
go drag! Festival, women celebrate cross dressing
2002 at Kunsthaus Tacheles, Berlin        
- The festival was funded by Haupstadtkulturfonds / Berlin          www.godrag.de

lecture / talk:

Fun and unacademic talk about life and work with performance excerpts and film clips.
Has been held at Universities in: Leipzig, Berlin, Hamburg, for US american students ...
Theatre departements, Gender Studies departements, Womens Studies departements ...



bookpublications:

- BRIDGE MARKLAND – PORTRAITS, 18 photographers took pictures of Bridge between
    1984-2000 (with biographical texts in German, English and French) © 2000, Konkursbuchverlag

- STRIPPED, erotic short stories (in German) © 2000, Konkursbuchverlag      www.konkursbuch.com

writing:
                
Bridge Markland started writing poetry with 17, today she writes:
- bilingual poetry and song lyrics in German/English
- funny storys with German words that are used in the English/American languages
     and other literary products...

web:

www.bridge-markland.de            
www.youtube.com/BridgeMarkland
www.godrag.de
www.classic-inthebox.de            
www.youtube.com/classicinthebox
www.myspace.com/bridgemarkland