News
May - Sept 2021
Mapping
“A journey into the mystery of human experience, how we imagine the world to be, how do we tune into our attention”. Lisa Nelson
From late May to July 2021, I invited visual artist Bettina Fung and movement artist Mary Mannion to contribute to my research for the Young Blood Initiative project U(Dys)topia(s) - Envisioning the future. Research sessions took place virtually on Zoom, outdoors and at Space Clarence Mews. Real time response to each other’s practice and our immediate relationship to our environment was at the core of the research; we danced, drew, wrote, explored ways of seeing, sensing and being, and shared our personal impressions of this embodied experience. The notion of ‘mapping’ and ‘being mapped’ became apparent which led to look into the history of cartography, eventually coming across the concept of an image making practice called Cartofiction that only exists in the realm of the imagination. I fine-tuned the embodied research, creating Tuning Scores for Mary and Bettina to respond to, the scores were infused with notions of cartography and the making of imaginary maps. The research evolved into six virtual mapping sessions, an online activity connecting dance and drawing as we collectively imagined and mapped out our utopia(s). More over, a compilation of outdoor moving images will serve for the creation of a dance film. There are plans for it to see life in the form of an art exhibition and in person workshops in the future.
Image: Artwork by Victoria Soto Madrid (Mademoiselle Chocolat) | Dancer Mary Mannion | Film project artists: Yue Wang and James Robert Brown
June 8-16 2021
Border Grid
Despite the challenges arising from the pandemic, Border Grid was shared with a live audience. Goldextra project directors pose the following questions: “What if the borders that surround us, conventions, rules, national borders were visible? What if these borders could not be dividing lines but actual connections?”. Joining remotely from London, I guided the audience as we crossed borders in space and time. My personal story was told, a tale about fleeing home and survival in Europe through dance. Following 13 successful performances, glodextra was awarded the Salzburg International Prize for Art and Culture. Border Grid will be restaged in September 2022 at Szene Salzburg Theatre.
Image: Tobias Hammerle, on screen Mara Vivas
March 26th 2021
Playing with Nothingness
An online-live-streamed workshop commissioned by Flock Festival 2021. In times of reduced spaces and a yearning for human interaction, can we consider ‘empty space’ as a possibility to reinvent and re-connect with the spaces we inhabit? This workshop celebrates imagination, creativity, individuality, community, and the spaces we inhabit. Playing with Nothingness is based on the dance piece ‘Nothingness’. The piece and the workshop explore our perception of space as we trace the borders of nothingness. It is aimed at people interested in exploring imagination, creativity, and relationship to the space they are in. Curiosity is the main requirement. Meeting virtually on Zoom, the workshop will offer a supportive and safe environment for us to be in connection with our sense of imagination. We will watch the piece together, responding in real time to what we ‘see’. We will explore how our responses can relate to the spaces we are in, free to express ourselves in any way; movement, drawing, writing, voice. Whatever takes us. Each participant’s response becomes a ‘gift’ that once shared can ‘travel’ to other participants' homes
Image: Julia Testas | Dancers: Lynn Dichon, Leah Wallings, Julia Maria Dahl, Georgia Fletcher
2020
Oct 4th 2020
A day of filming under the rain with videographer Becca Hunt in Kings Cross, London
It all began during lockdown. Dance artist Kostas Papamatthaiakis and Gaby Davies were in Malta, Fenia Chatzakou in Salzburg and me in London. My desire to remain connected with my fellow artist friends prompted me to propose a 2 hours weekly online meeting for us to explore what we called Shared Experience. For ten consecutive weeks we responded to each others improvisation scores and documented every meeting. Out of these inspirational encounters Kostas is now producing a film. In the film, we dance to his choreographic material from Malta, Salzburg and London. There is of course a clear intention and sense of journey to his idea. The project is now in the postproduction phase. We can’t wait to see the final product
Image: Becca Hunt | In the image: Mara Vivas, Becca Hunt
Aug-Sept 2020
BorderGrid
I’ve been invited to collaborate with Salzburg based Artists Collective goldextra in the research and development of BorderGrid. This Multimedia Art project draws on artist Tobias Hammerle original idea, it will undoubtedly engage the audience in a novel and unique way. BroderGrid will be performed in June 2021 at the Sommerszene International Performing Arts Festival. We will meet in Salzburg in January 2021 to continue our research.
Image: Tobias Hammerle | in the image: audience members
July 10th 2020
Poem from a window
On 13th September 2019 I met dance artist Alice Labant to talk about the project. This date holds great significance in my life; it’s the birthday of my Grandmother-Parent Ana Irene Suarez Atencio, my saviour and ever present example of courage, resilience, uncompromising love and will power. She turned 89 that year. ‘Poem from a window’ was born in the overlapping pre-pandemic/pandemic era. My aim was that it be performed as part of a series of live performances for the Health & Wellth Festival hosted by Intercultural Roots. But the unexpected happened; lockdown became the new normal and this opportunity vanished. Determined not to let the piece drift into oblivion, I found a window, and the energy to bring the work back to life. Composer Michael Picknett traced the sounds of Alice’s dance whilst Becca Hunt captured the narratives of the dancing body, the space, and the window on film. An ode to vulnerability and resilience was born.
Image: Julia Testas | in the image: Alice Labant
