Dancing otherness
In our Podcast BITPod we interviewed Caroline Eckly and Marcelo Evelin about their work in progress, which is shown on March 8th. You can listen to the interview at the bottom of this page.
"Everywhere, bodies with glowing colours … genuine hymns to multiplicity, proliferation and dissemination. What else can be said about the matter in harmony with the world of dreams and machines, as those are sculpted in the image of the world of animals, birds, flora, fauna and of an ancestral aquatic environment? And above all, how can we not evoke the woman? For when it comes to the duration and the rebirth of the world, isn't she, after all, the enigma and the secrets themselves?” (Achille Mbembe, Brutalism).
A French dancer, a Brazilian choreographer and a Japanese musician working in Norway, inspired by a Greek myth. A project that has its starting point on the encounter of differences, to celebrate otherness.
AND YES I SAID YES I WILL YES is inspired on the myth of Medusa, a woman who was punished after being raped and decapitated, with her head made into a weapon to protect against evil. With venomous snakes in her hair, her gaze could kill instantaneously. The myth refers nowadays to violence against women, to monstrosity as a form of irresistible beauty, and to the seducing power of stories and magic.
In conversation with Caroline Eckly and Marcelo Evelin, we speak about reading the book of Hélène Cixous, “The laughing of Medusa”, where the French Algerian writer talks about the importance of recognising the voice and space of women in this world, and about the possibility of a laughing Medusa in each women. They seem to search in this project for a vibrational dance, a dance without frame and structure, an experience to which the audience could belong.
They also tell the story of how they met. Marcelo describes Caroline as a «an extraordinary high skilled dancer» with bodily curiosity and strong involvement in ideas, and the Japanese musician as screaming like an animal with his guitar. Caroline remembers Evelin for his constant interest in confronting otherness, meeting different people from different backgrounds, bringing a world of multiple references and inspirations.
«I have the feeling that we are now moving to a moment where the audience is seeking a participation in the experience. I think it will replace the moment where the audience is only a kind of witness sitting on a chair just to receive something, to consume something. I think that we are going to go back to the old times, to the Greek, or the Indians from Brazil, or the nomads from Mongolia or whatever, where dance is the part of life of people. It’s a way to celebrate, a way to be part of a big mystery which is life. … I don’t think dance is anymore about giving a message or teach somebody some thing or coming with something incredible that you can analyse and criticise. … I think we need to meet each other. I think the audience also come to the theatre to feel something, maybe they don’t know what it is, but to be part of something, to belong to a kind of feeling or dimension. So I think that we – and with “we” I mean many artist in the world – are seeking to break this barrier between the artist and the spectator, the ones who do and the ones who criticise. For me it’s quite important that we look for a kind of horizontality when we think about making a piece or proposing a performance to the audience, because I really believe that the people are seeking a way to belong to that» (Marcelo Evelin).