© Magda Starowieyska.
On Saturday, 21 September (8 pm) CK Zamek in Poznań (ul. Św. Marcin 80/82) will host An Introduction, a documentary performance by Olga de Soto, Spanish choreographer, dancer and dance researcher. Tracing back Kurt Jooss’ legendary The Green Table, de Soto is exploring its history. She browses through photographs, reads interviews and reviews, all of which form the collective memory of audiences, critics and historians. She wants to find out how discourse on memory is coming into being. In her lecture performance Olga de Soto asks how a dance piece develops in the course of time, becoming part of dance history? What is the role and place of dancers in the history of dance?
The Green Tablepremiered in Paris in 1932 and was quickly recognised as fundamental for the history of dance. It dealt with the still fresh memory of WWI and the emerging fascism. Kurt Jooss protested against the reality which was becoming scarier day in day out, criticised the League of Nations and its ineffective diplomatic peace endeavours.The Green Tableis one of the most important artistic political manifestos and dance pieces at the same time.
Almost 70 years later, in 2010,An Introductionpremiered in Berlin atTanz in August. It is the first part of a diptychDébords.ReflectionsontheGreen Table,which deals also with the construction of discourse and collective memory of audiences and performers.
The piece is presented as part of the performance art. programme Archive of the Body [Archiwum ciała], taking place at the Zamek Culture Centre in Poznań from September to December 2013, curated by Anna Królica.
Tickets:PLN 15, 20
Olga de Sotois a Spanish choreographer, dancer and dance researcher living in Brussels since the 1990s. She studied classical and contemporary dance as well as music studies in Spain and the prestigious Centre national de danse contemporaine (CNDC) in Angers, France. She is known as an author of documentary performances dealing with collective memory in the sphere of dance. She debuted as choreographer in 1992. In 1995 she set up Abaroa, an ensemble gathering artists representing different art disciplines. In 1999-2002 she was resident choreographer at La Raffinerie in Brussels.
As a dancer she performed in Meg Stuart’sCrash Landing. In 1999-2004 she collaborated with Jérôme Bel onThe Show Must Go Onand performed in the piece as well. Working onCon forts Fleuveshe met choreographer Boris Charmatz. She danced in a range of productions of Michèle Anne De Mey, Claudio Bernardo, Eric Pauwels, Pierre Droulers and Félix Ruckert.In June 2003 she createdhistoire(s)(first version). Next year she presented at Kunstenfestivaldesarts in Brussels herIncorporer, the first in a series of five solos whose starting point were presentations ofEclats matyandhistoire(s). Her long-held fascination withTheGreen Tableresulted in a diptych, whose first part,An Introductionpremiered in 2010, and the second – in 2012.
Watch:
Olga de Soto talking about her work
A PREVIEW of the Archive of the Body
Read:
