Haiti born Karine LaBel studied Haitian and African dances and is now a lecturer at the University of Vienna’s Sports Institute and perhaps the only Haitian dancer in Austria. LaBel will perform her show Namenlos-Anonymous at the Fringe Festival on Feb 15-17, see +stage this page.

Tell us a little bit about your performance.
It’s basically about the universal themes of hope, immigration, personal identity and feeling anonymous in a foreign culture. The piece is for three dancers, one of whom is Thai.

What’s the inspiration?
Namenlos-Anonymous deals with three women with different nationalities meeting for the first time along their journey to a new life in a new country. The original inspiration comes from a cemetery in Vienna, which honors those having died anonymously in the Danube River.

For how long have you been practicing this performance?
The idea has existed for a long time but rehearsals began in Vienna in October 2007. Our third, Thai dancer just joined us on February 1.

What are you plans after the Fringe Festival?
After Bangkok, the piece will be shown in Austria, France and other countries using a new local performer each time to integrate different cultures, as defined by the concept. It’s global community work!