Eva Borrmann and Dörte Kordzumdieke have been close friends for over fifteen years - characterised by intensive artistic exchange and a shared eye for complex female figures.
With SALON MATA HARI, they are adding a new chapter to their long-standing exchange of ideas and bringing their perspectives as a choreographer and dance scientist into a productive and artistic dialogue that will take place on stage in the form of a lecture performance.

At the centre is Mata Hari – dancer, spy, icon. A woman between myth, external attribution and strategic self-staging. Famous for her exotic dances and her role as a courtesan, she came under suspicion during the First World War of acting as a double agent for Germany and France. Her seductive charisma and relationships with influential men made her a projection screen for espionage fantasies. In 1917, she was arrested, convicted and executed – to this day, her guilt remains controversial. Mata Hari remains a symbol of seduction, mystery and the power of storytelling.

Borrmann and Kordzumdieke approach the historical figure from different artistic and scientific perspectives. Based on biographical fragments, they create a moving portrait that deliberately reveals gaps and uses them as space for new interpretations. The focus is on breaks, contradictions and the unspoken – those moments when biography becomes assertion and interpretation becomes a weapon.

SALON MATA HARI is an expression of a long-standing friendship – and at the same time an invitation to approach this multi-layered figure in a new way.