Gymnastics of the mind

The research is inspired by the book ABECEDA from 1926, which is characterised by an equal synergy between typography, photomontage and movement. Each letter of the alphabet was graphically shaped by Karel Teige in relation to a choreographed pose by Milca Mayerová and Vítězslav Nezval provided each letter with a poem. Femke Gyselinck in turn wants to reflect on how to pay tribute to this work and how to give a contemporary relevance to a dance alphabet in the light of our (post-)postmodernist world view.

The movement research builds on Gyselinck's previous research into how we can read bodies as carriers of meaning. A gesticulating body is revealing but the meanings never solidify, they invariably remain in motion. The already acquired insights and choreographic imagery are challenged in this project by letting movement crystallize in 1 moment, 1 letter, 1 'pose'. How do you translate spatial language into another, two-dimensional medium? What communicative possibilities might be contained in a dance alphabet? How to capture an eventful alphabet in photos?