Bring them back, stop the war - guide for participants

You can participate either as a performer, walking backwards with a word on your bare back, or as safety person, walking forwards. Participants meet at 15:00 at Tanznetz, Poststr. 3. The performance starts at 16:00.

If you know that you want to participate, please send a quick message to Kai (kai.brugge@gmail.com, +49 175 9521755 ) or Talshalom (+972 54 233 5135), so we have an idea how many we will be.

As a performer

You do not need any previous experience in performance arts to walk with us.

Please bring warm, black or dark clothes.

Before the performance we will form groups of people who will create a sentence together. There will be time to connect within the group before the performance.

We will decide on which exact sentences to use depending on the performers, who are there. Sentences we used in the past are "BRING THEM BACK" and "STOP THE WAR".

How to walk

Be yourself, you do not have to and should not act. Let the act of walking backwards affect you, allow yourself to feel the connection to the people in Gaza, if you want - but you do not have to do anything on top of it. Let yourself be seen, allow eye contact and personal connection to the people around.

Each group decides for themself if they want to walk as a line or as a more loose group. When you turn as a group, be aware that the innermost person has to walk much slower than the outermost person. The groups find their own way to Platz der alten Synagoge, walking in the middle of the street or on the sidewalk.

We walk from Poststr. 3 straight to Kaiser-Joseph-Straße and from there to Platz der alten Synagoge.

When we arrive at the square each group walks around the square independently. After some time all the groups meet in the middle, do a small guided ceremony of leaning on each others backs and whispering "I have your back" and then all spread out into a big circle.

As a safety person

Your job is to keep your eyes open, so the performers are safe and no accidents happen.

You can give simple hand signs to signal the performers to stop, or to go more right or more left. Subtly let them know, if they have to stop for the one traffic light at Rotteckring, are walking towards a bigger obstacle or have to change the side of the road, because there is a tram coming from their back.

Try to do as little as possible and trust in the performers and their ability to sense the space, don't give into your protective instincts too much. Try to keep a bit distance to the performers, so they can be seen without you.