From writings for a project “TRIBUNE // Dance your self !” (this text has no translation)
What is the dance of the future ?
I think that the mouvement has to talk about the world and create at least temporary ways of being otherwise. So I wish the dance of the future would think and talk about the world changing in way that we imagine it and not in the way imagined by the dystopian novel writers or predicted by scientists and ecoactivists. I wish that dance and creativity could become a part of everyone’s life, and we would live in a society where all could exercise internal drives and develop their capacities freely instead of being forced to rent themselves in order to survive. As an artist and dance educator, I believe in dance as means of self-fulfillement that cannot be tought but awakened by providing the thread along which it can develop itself, at the same time developping person’s consciuosnessnes and critical thinking, spontaneity and desire for freedom. Then we would live and dance in a society based on basic human needs for spontaneus iniciative, creative work and leisure, solidarity and social justice and in which freely constituted social bonds and democratic control would replace the fetters of autocratic institutions and predatory capitalism. Then we would not need dance to be a camouflage for not participating in domination systems and hierarchies (patriarchal, economical, political) in which we do not believe anymore.
In fact, to imagine this future society in which we all dance all the time, I presume we would first need to experiment forms of artistic expression that teach us to imagine, speculate and be courageous to go beyond what is. Now « thinking does not play well in an image-based culture. There is not much to see in it. It is not a performing art. » 1 I wish wish would set the future of the dance now, dance that is able to make us think and interrogate ourselves, to associate and dream.
How should we change or adapt previous work methods to be properly prepared to return to work and creative processes after quarantine?
Of course, in order to set the future of the dance now (dance that is able to make us think and interrogate ourselves, to associate and dream) we would want to change or adapt work methods.
In a very short term of post-quarantine situation, I think the notion of expanded choreography can be very productive, involving transdisciplinary practice and interrogtions of what constitutes dance and choreography – mouvement of thought, mouvement of breath, mouvement of voice, mouvement of camera. It’s also crucial to experiment with modes of production and self oganisation (for example, « residency at home ») as well as presentation (for example, reconquering public space, which used to be a space consacrated for gatherings of happy consumers). Thus, I am now working at home mainly concentrating on preparing a piece for public space and transposing an existant dance piece to a dance movie.
In long perspective on post-quarantine situation, the most important goal for me is to make my dance continuosly acquire political significance. Political significance meaning critical engagement with politics of representation, aesthetics and labour of my own medium in tension with contemporary society. For example, I can use an impressive dance sequence, high performativity of the body, pop-esthetics to play with the expectations with the audience to see dance « aligned with the production and display of the body and subjectivity fit to perform the unstopable mobility ».2 Meet these expectations by using recognizable images and body language and then transform it. My work can also include absurdity as a way to deal with some contemporary phenomena, permitting people to become more and more clever watching us being more and more stupid.
1 citation from « Amusing Ourselves to Death » by Neil Postman
2 citation from « Exhausting Dance: Performance and the Politics of Movement » by Andre Lepecki