Assimilations

Assimilations consists of a series of solos, duets and trios, performed by Ingrid Haakstad, Tale Dolven, Krisjanis Sants, Ieva Gaurilcikaite, Yukiko Shinozaki, and Heine Avdal. In recent work, Avdal and Shinozaki used diverse media and tools (objects, sound, projection, text) to explore everyday spaces (hotels, supermarkets, offices, theatres) and how they and our conventional use of them shape our bodies and movements, actions, and gestures. In Assimilations, the choreographers pare down the choreographic material to the body, and nothing but the body. The performance is inspired by what Myriam Sas calls the weight and tactility of darkness. In the dark, only the body and its gestures will be made perceptible. This makes the space that immediately surrounds the body come into relief.

How do we perceive this space? What is it? And how does it transform, and become tactile, or material? While focusing in detail on bodily movement and bodily movement alone, the dance will reveal the space this movement produces. How does the body connect with - or separate itself from - its surroundings, and others? What does this mean at the current moment, which is disorienting and forces us to interrogate our position in the world. While producing a sense of numbness, anxiety, and apathy (caused by a constant news and data overload, personal data and information manipulation, climate change, extremism and political inaction or unrest), the current situation also demands action, resistance, and protest. The demands of our times result in a need for simplification, focus, and abstraction, and for the power of the imagination to take center stage.

Assimilations will premiere at PACT Zollverein in 2021 followed by an international tour.