DIS_SYLPHIDE, a dance piece on disability and dance history in Germany
In the performance DIS_SYLPHIDE we focused on the history of German dance scene and works created in Germany in the 20th century that have had a significant effect on the world of dance. We considered choreographies that have changed the understanding of the dance itself, of the choreography and the body: Hexentanz by Mary Wigman from 1926, Kontakthof by Pina Bausch from 1978, and SelfUnfinished by Xavier Le Roy from 1998. They have digressed from the dance norms of their times in a revolutionary way. In this work we were most interested in considering the process of normativization in dance, as well as in the society we live in. What we saw as great potential for reexamining the position of disabled people in dance is the way all three choreographies deal with the question of Other and foreign, the relationship of the individual and society, and the question of identity. As a group of disabled and non-disabled artists, we wanted to reactualize these questions and thus intervene in contemporary dance scene today, offering a possibility to disabled artists to appear as subjects and actors of contemporary dance.
Concept and artistic direction: Saša Asentić
Choreography and artistic collaboration: Natalija Vladisavljević, Alexandre Achour and Olivera Kovačević Crnjanski
Performers: Natalija Vladisavljević, Jelena Stefanoska, Snežana Bulatović, Dalibor Šandor, Marko Bašica, Frosina Dimovska, Dunja Crnjanski, Alexandre Achour, Olivera Kovačević Crnjanski and Saša Asentić
Libretto for „Witch Dance“ and poems: Natalija Vladisavljević
Dramaturgy consultant: Marcel Bugiel
Artistic assistant: Frosina Dimovska
Advice on costume design: Marina Sremac
Executive producer: Nataša Murge Savić
In the version of the performance in spoken German the following performers took part together with above mentioned artists: Thomas Möller, Liv Neumann, Tom Reinecke, and Celina Scharff, while Can Gecir and Katharina Bromka took part in the research phase.
Coproduction: Saša Asentić & Collborators with Kampnagel (Hamburg), Künstlerhaus Mousonturm (Frankfurt), MIKUB e.V. (Berlin) and Per.Art (Novi Sad)
Support: Aktion Mensch and NPN Coproduction - Fund for Dance
Dis_Sylphide performance has been presented at the Tanzplattform 2020 in Munich, in Kampnagel (Hamburg), Mousonturm (Frankfurt), Tanzhaus NRW (Dusseldorf), Hellerau (Dresden), Théâtre de la Ville (Paris), as well as at the international festival in Tokyo, at the Congress of the International Federation of Theatre Research in Belgrade, and in different city theatres in Novi Sad.
