Ab(ex)traction 2020-2022
Ab(ex)traction “Ist das Kunst oder kann das weg?" is a physical and aesthetic interrogation of ballet with the ethical and analytical tools of contemporary social theory. The goal is the abstraction of ballet technique, vocabulary, semiotics, and formal elements with the desire to separate the artefacts from the knowledge and rethink ballet knowledge for contemporary dance training and choreographic practices. On a general level, the themes of Ab(ex)traction deal with the contemporary balancing act between understanding and exploring knowledge contained in long established traditions while acknowledging the demand for a new, inclusive, body-ethical aesthetics.
Winter 2021
Ab(ex)traction Teil 1
Ab(ex)traction Teil 1 was supported by Dis-Tanzen, Sofort Hilfe, and Quartier am Hafen. It ran in early 2021.
Fall 2021
Ab(ex)traction Teil 2
Ab(ex)traction tel 2 was supported by Landes NRW and GVL stipends, and occurred in the fall of 2021
The Trouble with Form. A dance film produced within the frame of Ab(ex)traction.
Influence on my artistic practice
Ab(ex)traction has also strongly influenced my artistic practice. The above video is a reflection on how to apply contemporary ideas and a gender interrogation to norms in the relationship between men and women as represented in ballet.
Ab(ex)traction will continue in 2022 and is funded for separate projects within its conceptual frame by Dis-Tanzen Solo and Fonds der Darstellende Künste/Take Care scholarships.
This is where I am right now is a 2022 dance film created within the frame of Ab(ex)traction
Above: “This is where I am right now.” An Ab(ex)traction research result. Reframing the duet. Made possible by Fond der Darstellende Künste. TakeHeart Stipend.
Space in Spaces is an NPN funded project by Maria Golding
The physical working process from Ab(ex)traction formed the basis for the NPN funded performance “Space in Spaces”, choreographed by Maria Golding in which I worked as training director and dramaturgue. This was based on a Dis-Tanzen funded research on how to share conceptions of Ab(ex)traction in choreographic processes led by other artists. Click here for a link to the “Space in Spaces” trailer.
Monster
Within the frame of FonDaKu TakeHeart stipend, the monster project was initiated as a vehicle for affirmatively challenging the all too excepted violence that dancers accept from others and place on themselves for the sake of art.
Ab(ex)traction 2022: Through the support of Dis-Tanzen and Dachverband Tanz, below are videos that demonstrate how I work physically alone as well as with dancers, to both prepare our bodies, but also to dig into the materialist focus in this research which aims to ab(ex)tract knowledge from ballet, while eschewing the production of idealised shapes and positions.
