Saturday, 14 June

Sofia Filippou

Rooted in the writings of Karen Barad and Erin Manning, this practice focuses on the interplay between movement and perception, attempting to interact with what is residing in, vibrating through and shaping the bodies of our time.

What does it mean to allow movement to body? What are the ways we can practice movement as an attempt to wit(h)ness the contemporary body?
Where do we go from here?”

75 min

Shion Yokoo

In my presentation, I would like to introduce the sign behaviours in contemporary performing arts that I call anti-theatricality and reflect on them with participants. Performance situation depends on the unique sign structure to be as such, distinguishing it from daily life outside the stage. Even the daily functional signs could turn into artistic signs, which mechanism is studied by Petr Bogatyrev and Erika Fischer-Lichte as a sign of signs. Today, I have observed that these artistic signs are approached more in a complex manner, and that may be one of the characteristics of contemporary performing arts.

45 min

Margaret Tilk

Oh boy, you are going to set your SUV on fire.

The summer of 2023 was the hottest in the history of the Northern Hemisphere, forests in the US, Russia, and Greece are burning, Rwanda, Congo, and Belgium are experiencing floods, and biodiversity in the Philippines, Indonesia, and India is disappearing at an accelerating rate. Protests are being restricted by new laws, climate activists are silenced through courts and police, and in some countries, activists simply "disappear" (Berglund et al., 2024).

A search for control in an environment, where you have been stripped of any ability to control the situation. Pursuit of climate justice in a country where the national car is an SUV and the national heroes are young men with fast computers and old men who happened to be in the right place at the right time. Search for methodology for demanding a brighter and joyful future.

The academic poetic-political lecture, which is an extended version of Margaret Tilk’s showing at the Kanuti Gildi SAAL residency, is a continuation of a search that has, at one stage, taken the form of a scientific article: https://doi.org/10.17645/si.9042

45 min

Lisanna Lajal

In this presentation I will give a brief overview of the year 2024 in Estonian dance theatre and of the reception of premiered dance productions. The aim of the presentation is to draw interest and focus from the performance to the review as an art form on its own and as one of the few available ways for recording dance. Unlike classical drama theatre, dance performances tend not to leave a textual or material trace. Thus, reviews and video recordings of performances are the main ways of approaching theatrical events that have already taken place. The presentation will shed light on: How many productions premiered? What is the average number of reviews per production? Who writes and where? What do the critics consider remarkable?

20 min
+ 10 min discussion

Martha Graham, 1948

Kai Valtna

Modern society, which stresses that life is only worth living if one remains true to oneself, makes authenticity the goal in itself. "The expectation that each of us has a rich and unique 'inner life', made up of fantasies, memories, emotions and dreams, and this hidden life somehow defines our authentic self, has, after Freud, acquired the status of an anthropological generalisation", has said the medical historian and sociologist Monica Greco.

The image of a dancer, locked between her inner world and the walls of the studio, has largely defined the image of dance, at least since Martha Graham. Yet we like to talk about dance as something which brings people together, exalts and unites communities. In short, we like to emphasize the social power of dance more than the dancer´s individualistic ambition in it. In this lies a strange contradiction for me.

According to the prevailing perception in Western culture, authenticity – whether called integrity, honesty, genuineness, or something else – can mostly be found through an exhausting journey of introspection, because the ultimate truth lies within ourselves. A journey that is somehow similar to a dancer's journey to professionalism, and which could also be characterized by a debilitating sense of loneliness. Here, too, progress is often achieved at the cost of detachment from society.

20 min
+ 10 min discussion

All participants

Circle discussion:

What is currently happening?

We gather together to look back and digest the 2-day programme, aiming to map out the main currents of movement and take note of distinct landmarks.

up to 2 h :)

dance Conference

dance
Conference