Dance-floor Diagnosis Trailer

it is:

THEATRICAL, the lights have been set, we are costumed, the glitz, the glitter, we pass through characterization, there are moments of obvious narrative, and stories do emerge by force and by chance. By not disregarding the dramatic, we can explore notions of beauty, glamour, gender, and be nostalgic of a time where people could dance together.

AN EXHIBITION, we display our bodies, as an audience you are up close, you can walk around us, you can negotiate the space. I have chosen to play with audience composition as another means by which to explore the spectacle and how it can be viewed. This aspect intensifies the ordeal but also gives a power to the public to leave a performer if they wish.

A SOCIAL OCCASION.

It has a score, it is a task, IT IS DANCE, IT IS NOT DANCE. Elements of pedestrianism are present, at times we fall into a theatrical performance and these are contrasted by a fragmentation of particular sections as well as moments of task based actions.

The magic is gone.

now it is:

A REPRESENTATION OF A REPRESENTATION OF A REPRESENTATION, that might allow for a moment of honesty. The spectacle is being used to facilitate a performative ritual that gives permission to be on stage as people, as liars, as bearers of gifts, as the other, as outsiders and as insiders, and as similar to, or of the same as the audience members themselves. The theatrical barrier is built up, then torn down, we are performing ambiguity because there is nothing else. This performance becomes about taking Ballroom dance as an issue, trying it on, testing it, as well as acknowledging that this process is transparent for the audience.

"Dance Floor Diagnosis is anti-spectacular and resists our easy consumption of the beautiful. The piece offers glinting moments of spectacle while making visible the ache of longing at the heart of performance. As watchers we are implicated in driving these performers to what they do, and they are guilty of forcing their revelations of the greyness behind the artifice onto us. A complex and compelling piece of dance and theatre Dance Floor Diagnosis leaves the audience questioning what has happened and why and how they have been involved in this."
Dr Mark Leahy, Director of MA Programme at Dartington College of Arts

Choreography Christina Jensen© as part of DCA MASHOW (Dartington 2008). In collaboration with performers: Holly Bodmer, Mads Andersen, Alice Mundschin. Videography by Clelia Rinaldi and DCA from performances and rehearsal. Edited by Christina Jensen

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• DCA MASHOW
• dance-floor
• contemporary dance
• WHIPPIT
• Christina Jensen