INTERVENE/PARTICIPATE

Femen activists protest in Belo Horizonte against farmers, in support of the Guarani-Kaiowás
© Revista Época

How can individuals and groups intervene and participate in society, and what role does the body play in this respect? How is the state of the body’s agency, its capacity to effectively intervene in social conditions? These questions will be discussed based on a broad range of examples including the Arab Spring and in regard to social movements such as ‘Occupy’. The focus is on forms of emancipation from traumas and oppression in dance, acts of bodily self-empowerment and the choreographic treatment of political chaos and social crisis. Furthermore, the aesthetics of protest of social movements will be confronted with the political of choreographies in public space. And, perspectives of the body beyond the norm will be presented that address the subversive potential of differently abled bodies.

Fri, 7 June    12:00

  • 12:15 - 13:00    Capitol, Club Video

    Act of Empowerment

    A Dialogue on the Bodies of Dance in Arab Cultures

    N. Hadj-Benchalabi, S. Noeth
    Act of Empowerment© Sandra Noeth

    Dancing bodies in Arab and especially in Islamic cultures are often read, named, described and represented on the backdrop of ‘patrimonial’, religious, mystical and ancestral heritage and traditions. However, it seems important to see the variety and richness of materials and unique entries that choreographers and dancers keep on developing in the very friction between and enriched by local and universal forms of expression.
    More than ever, contemporary dance in the Arab region appears as a living art, which stimulates and incorporates change. Nedjma Hadj-Benchalabi and Sandra Noeth therefore grasp contemporary dance production as equally physical and discursive “act of empowerment” which are nourished and contaminated by a state of emergency with an inherent sense of (public) engagement and involvement. Dance seems to be for the artists and the public almost an attempt to formulate a response and to stay in dialogue with the complex demands and the deep transformations in the order of the world.

    Nedjma Hadj-Benchalabi (B) curator
    Sandra Noeth (D) dance scholar, curator

Fri, 7 June    15:00

  • 15:00 - 17:45    tanzhaus, Studio 5

    dé-position

    Research on the Body’s Agency

    A. Baehr, C. Bosse, T. Chakar, J. Janša, A. Lahoud, L. Mehanovic, S. Noeth, J. Toufic
    © Lejla Mehanovic

    We are living in times of far-reaching social and political upheavals, in which the question of the body’s agency is posed anew in regard to situations of protest, revolt and negotiation in the Arab region and elsewhere. In light of these events, the notion of choreography also goes beyond the creation and development of structures and the organisation of movement in time and space: How can chaos and collapse be treated choreographically? Can and should choreography do more than comment on, illustrate or represent processes of radical change? Based on their respective work practices and backgrounds in various disciplines, a group of artists and theorists addressed these questions in more detail during a research meeting in Beirut. Confronted with the challenge of having to perceive and at the same time understand different influences, narratives, contexts, and bodies in face of the current developments, they grasped choreography as a movement of continuous repositioning. Hence, the concept “dé-position” stands for giving up one’s own position, for a physical and discursive change in perspective as the precondition for understanding, evaluating and acting. In two afternoons, Congress participants are invited to share the questions, materials and practices of this research work.

    Antonia Baehr (D) choreographer, performer
    Claudia Bosse (A) choreographer, director
    Tony Chakar (LB) architect, artist
    Janez Janša (SLO) choreographer, director, performance theorist
    Adrian Lahoud (UK) architect, architecture theorist
    Lejla Mehanovic (A) film-, theatre scholar
    Sandra Noeth (A) dance scholar, curator
    Jalal Toufic (LB) philosopher, artist

Sat, 8 June    14:00

  • 14:00 - 17:45    tanzhaus, Studio 5

    dé-position

    Research on the Body’s Agency

    A. Baehr, C. Bosse, T. Chakar, J. Janša, A. Lahoud, L. Mehanovic, S. Noeth, J. Toufic
    © Lejla Mehanovic

    We are living in times of far-reaching social and political upheavals, in which the question of the body’s agency is posed anew in regard to situations of protest, revolt and negotiation in the Arab region and elsewhere. In light of these events, the notion of choreography also goes beyond the creation and development of structures and the organisation of movement in time and space: How can chaos and collapse be treated choreographically? Can and should choreography do more than comment on, illustrate or represent processes of radical change? Based on their respective work practices and backgrounds in various disciplines, a group of artists and theorists addressed these questions in more detail during a research meeting in Beirut. Confronted with the challenge of having to perceive and at the same time understand different influences, narratives, contexts, and bodies in face of the current developments, they grasped choreography as a movement of continuous repositioning. Hence, the concept “dé-position” stands for giving up one’s own position, for a physical and discursive change in perspective as the precondition for understanding, evaluating and acting. In two afternoons, Congress participants are invited to share the questions, materials and practices of this research work.

    Antonia Baehr (D) choreographer, performer
    Claudia Bosse (A) choreographer, director
    Tony Chakar (LB) architect, artist
    Janez Janša (SLO) choreographer, director, performance theorist
    Adrian Lahoud (UK) architect, architecture theorist
    Lejla Mehanovic (A) film-, theatre scholar
    Sandra Noeth (A) dance scholar, curator
    Jalal Toufic (LB) philosopher, artist

Sat, 8 June    16:00

  • 16:00 - 16:45    Capitol, Club

    Risk-taking Bodies and Their Choreographies of Protest

    C. Rosa
    Risk-taking Bodies and Their Choreographies of Protest© Cristina Rosa

    In this lecture demonstration, Cristina Rosa examines the political potential of choreography in contemporary Brazil. She shows how people take bodily risks to lend their protest greater impact. From the Afro-Brazilian fight dance capoeira, to the violent dance technique called “physical perception” by Grupo Cena 11, which takes up voodoo culture’s states of trance, all the way to the threat of mass suicide by the indigenous population ­of the Guarani-Kaiowás in October 2012, ­Cristina Rosa describes choreography as ­radical action in a fight for human rights and land demarcation.

    Cristina Rosa (BRA/USA) dancer, dance scholar

Sat, 8 June    17:00

  • 17:00 - 17:45    Capitol, Club Video

    Border Control

    Framing the Atypical Body

    K. O’Reilly
    Border Control© Farrows Creative/Nt'l Theatre Wales

    “You say radical, I say conservative, you say inclusive, I say subversive …”

    Since 2003, the playwright and dramaturge Kaite O’Reilly has been working intensively with deaf and disabled persons. In this lecture, she examines the possibilities and limits of artistic inclusion in performances, e.g., by Jérôme Bel and David Toole (among others, with the ­Candoco Dance Company, DV8), as well as ­her own work. To what extent is dealing with the “atypical body” politically and culturally shaped? How does the concept of normalcy of the majority society relate to a politicised “disability culture” that affirms the multiplicity of human differences?

    Kaite O’Reilly (UK) playwright, dramaturge

Sun, 9 June    10:00

  • 10:00 - 10:45    Capitol, Club Video

    The Parallel Practice of Dance, Yoga and Urban Activism

    N. Johar
    The Parallel Practice of Dance, Yoga and Urban Activism© Pavan Bisht

    India’s self-understanding of dance is still characterised by classical dance and a self-flattering view to the past. In response to this, the Studio Abhyas founded by Navtej Johar in New Delhi combines yoga, dance and urban activism. These three at first glance totally independent body practices continuously enrich each other, thus assisting in developing a physical awareness of the present moment that puts us in a position to react to and have an impact on the complex urban reality of a megacity. Classical dance’s apolitical cult of the past is thus countered by a contemporary political form of art.

    Navtej Johar (IND) choreographer

  • 10:00 - 12:45    tanzhaus, Studio 6

    Choreography, Protest, Public Sphere

    G. Klein, O. Marchart, M. Nachbar, V. Tsianos, M. Tsomou
    Choreography, Protest, Public Sphere© Anja Kühn

    Can protest be choreographed? Can choreo­graphy be used to protest? The lab addresses the relationship between aesthetics and politics. It examines both the role of choreography in contemporary urban democracy movements and the political dimensions of artistic performances in public space: Under which conditions is an urban space transformed into a political public sphere by the means of choreography? This and other questions will be discussed based on current examples and with the aid of artistic-scientific procedures.

    Gabriele Klein (D) dance scholar, sociologist
    Oliver Marchart (D) sociologist
    Martin Nachbar (D) ­choreographer
    Vassilis Tsianos (D) sociologist, co-founder Kanak Attak
    Margarita Tsomou (D) scholar, co-editor ­Missy Magazine