WHAT IS IT (THE RIGHT) TIME FOR?

5/17/2020

Live performance purism. Is it a thing? Or might it become a thing?

It took me 2 months to understand that I am a live-performance purist.
I love it when a work of art in the flesh speaks to my soul directly.

I love the magic that occurs in theatre space.
I love the bodies in space, the exchange of energy, the exchange of live energy, the sweat dropping on the floor, the sound of breath, the sound of bodies on stage, the sensation of an audience at the edge of their seat, laughing, crying, loving, hating, applauding, leaving the room, feeling asleep, being wide awake, being bored, being enthusiastic.

It took me the whole lockdown (or, are we still lockdown-ed?!) to come up with clear questions and thoughts about the situation of the dance world post-covid crisis.
I have shared them during few European Round Tables I have been lucky to take part of, and I would love to hear your thoughts on them, or simply just share them with you.

Keep in mind these are open questions. Probably no answer or as many as we are.

Could we come up with a manifesto or something? Made together, agreed together with artists, venues, production houses etc.?

Let’s see what the present holds.

1)
Is it (the right) time to rethink our production system, our interdependency, our values, together as a community?
Are we able to genuinely work as an eco-system?

2)
Is it (the right) time to challenge our practice?
How can we work and create with, around, through, inspired by or without the digitalization of dance?
How can the spread of online dance shows honor and respect the final product that is the live performance? How can « digital » dance become a practice on its own, like dance-video for example?
Is it ok not to feel like you want to challenge your practice in that way? yes.
Is it ok not to be ready for such a challenge? yes.
Is it ok to discover a new passion for the digitalization of dance and drop live performance? yes.

3)
Is it (the right) time to question inclusivity of dance’s online presence? (and of dance in general, through any means, any platform, any shape)?

How can we do that.
Together.

Kindness, hope and support.

Thoughts welcome ⚡️

Photo: taken at KLAP Maison pour la Danse, Marseille - Octobre 2018

1 Comment

Andres

5/18/2020 03:55:49 am

Hola Lea,
Thanks for putting this out there. I have been thinking about this for maybe the past 2 months. At the beginning of lockdown I wasn’t sure wether I could be a performer in an online digital content kind of way. ‘But what if there was no other way?’ -Someone said-.
In that case I’ll be ready to move on and rediscover a new passion until the world is ready for live/intheflesh performance again. Maybe digitalising things isn’t bad. What is unacceptable for me is negating the power of an audience together, in contact amongst themselves without talking and in contact with whatever is on in front of them (and sometimes around them) making a unique unrepeatable moment happen.

Who knows when the right time will be for us to be back on stage. I know I’ll be there.

Hope you’re really well!
Big kiss to you, Guillaume and Gaspar.

Andres

- things we dig -