Page 36 - SMCK Magazine - Issue #01

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Techniques such as contact improvi- sation and release, that emphasize the informal, the low-key presence of the dancer participant, claim solidarity and an attitude toward the body that is tolerant, liberating and loose, offe- red consolation and helped to over- come the hostility and aggression that hovered over societies and artists alike by over-accentuating the need for mutual support and an interest in the weaker members of society. These techniques also helped rethink the urban landscape—an urban land- scape that had become unrecognisa- ble and depressing, with homeless people and the sad stories of the victims of the fall of vanity exhibited in the previous decades—along with the inner landscape of the performer.
WE ARE FORCED TO REFLECT AND REPLAN
It’s only human nature to look to pre- vious moments of crisis not only for educational purposes, but also for in- spiration and ideas on how to handle adversity. Therefore in 2008 many loo- ked back not just into past disasters, but also into utopian ideas, in the hope that “this time it might work.” This is partly how the aforementioned choices—i.e., of collectives—may be interpreted. As soon as hope and a re- lative stability returned, escapism showed signs of having completed its life cycle. Then, just as everyone was about to catch up with life and art using gained experience as an asset for future expeditions, the COVID-19 pandemic became the new, more se- rious “drawback of human planning”. At the moment, no clear signs of a new style or genre in dance exist, as people believe the disease to be a short-term impediment. In collaboration with
technology (the greatest enemy of es- capism), dancers and performers ma- naged to gain their pace (ironic) through the time of confinement— which seems not over yet.
many choreographers a standard ele- ment of their performances. The spectators often saw the “dialogue” of the performer on stage, with his/her prerecorded image or the projection of the body into an imaginary land- scape via multimedia work.
ANGST FUELS CREATIVITY AND CONFINEMENT REDEFINES SPACE
It’s rather early to say what this new crisis will generate in terms of inspira- tion for new ways of making dances. Serious questions arise from the pan- demic and may help trigger new paths in our thinking. How does the body react in long-term confinement? How does the threat of a pandemic influ- ence the body itself, and how does it cope with stress? How will the lonely body be treated? How do we evade the trap of mourning that constant images of death and danger in the media and in the news magnify? How do we perceive our culture after the severe blow brought about by the pandemic? How do we furthermore perceive the sick body and the frailty of life? As generations who have lived in relative luxury and peace, how quickly and how exactly shall we res- pond to consecutive crises? In other words, what are the tools and the re- flexes that lead to personal, social, and artistic maturity? Will there be anot her fatalist “lost generation,” as in the 20s?
Fear and anxiety has been turned into art by many artists, from Holbein to Munch and many others. Colour, shade, perspective (or the lack of it), help communicate the feeling of anger and despair to the viewer. How can an art such as dance that is so di-
O n v i r t u“a l m e e t i n g p l a t f o r m s , d a n c e r s continue to exercise on a daily basis, to teach and to choreograph. Famous artists have gone online on social
Fear and anxiety has
into art by many artits
been turned
media and shown their daily routine; dancers have continued to encourage colleagues, friends, and their audience on social media to gain strength and avoid depression through exercise.
THE BODY ADAPTS TO EXPERIMENTS
The body became “virtual”once more, bringing to mind the experiments car- ried out in the 90s when that new tool, the internet, sent performers experi- menting with real time, different time zones, simultaneous dancing in diffe- rent countries - the reality and corpo- reality and their limits.
Via the state-of-the-art technology of the time, performers mixed rationality and materialism with the “vanishing” of the body, its transcendental poten- tial and the phenomenological point of view of experiments with the chal- lenge of time and space as we know them. Media, computers, became for
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