medvetánc [bear dance] : Savage
21 december 2018
Ubik/WORM, Rotterdam
Queer Performance Art Evening
curated by Anthony Hüseyin
click here for the full programme
click here for the announcement on Facebook
> click here for a part of the video used during this performance (NSFW)
7 & 8 April, 2017
Hackney Showroom, London
a part of Joy & Dissent: a festival of cultural activism
on invitation by co-curator Malik Nashad Sharpe
April 7 - programme & link for tickets (JoyShorts I)
April 8 - programme & link for tickets (JoyShorts II)
click here for the programme of the entire festival
9 December, 2016
Kaleidoscope Miniatures WoLFArT
Rotterdam (NL)
thanks to Maciej Piotr Beszek, Alisa Komarova, Ewa Sikorska, Gieorgij Puchalski,
Ana Portela, Sophia Oltmanns, Urvin Doornkamp, Rav Sila, Joshua Thies
ABOUT THE WORK :
a striptease of stereotypes and labels,
intersecting ethnicity, gender, sexuality, species – their imagery and power-relations
here, behold, the wonder, the splendour ...
fantasies, androgyny, Odalisque-passive power, personal desire,
loving Daddy Bear(s), ... and patriarchy?
close encounters of the hairy kind — you may touch
who is The Savage ?
and why ... ?
medvetánc (Hungarian: "bear dance") started from a personal fascination for hair, fur, muscle, and (cis-)masculinity.
the childhood memory of the piano piece with the same name, by 20th-century Hungarian composer Béla Bartók,
lead to the cultural phenomenon of dancing bears, sometimes still practiced in remote parts of Central and Eastern Europe:
what was once an ancient ritual of life and death, has mostly become utterly cruel, crude popular entertainment, no longer deemed acceptable -
an extreme example how dance, spirituality, and physicality can be treated.
in a series of short vignettes, often centered around a single piece of popular/folk art —music, imagery, films, but also stereotypes— the performer creates an intersectional identity strip-tease towards establishing the closest, most intimate possible connection with the audience, exploring and questioning otherness. while many features are pre-set, the piece varies from performance to performance, an exercise in live-dramaturgy.
Savage is a crucial part, where the performer faces the witnessing audience in a transgressing, personal, private and vulnerable moment.
most of the dance happens on the level of personal energy.
it is not certain whether the performance will be fully successful.
despite the 'lazy' external attitude, reminiscent of 19th century Odalisque paintings,
internally, the performer is singing every word of the title-song at top intensity (& means it)
dedicated with love and thanks to Jean-Ulrick Désert
special thanks to Gloria Holwerda
the full series medvetánc was developed during a residence at CLOUD/Danslab, Den Haag, November 2015
