We all know it: A brightly lit screen, a soft sofa, our limp body sitting and gawking. News and art, all in the same rectangular digital frame. RECYCLING DANCE was created as a response to the paralyzing experience of the pandemic era and its aftermath. When everything is there but nothing works, it can be a pleasurable new beginning to catapult one's fleshly body into the provisional presence of the screens and simply join in, according to MFK Bochum's thesis. We have asked collectives and choreographers to provide us with video excerpts from their pieces for reenactment and participation. In the sense of recycling, we take the existing as a basis for the new and ask ourselves and you, what energies can be gained from recycled dance?
REDUCE - REUSE - RECYCLE
Three REs out of a further nine REs for a better, more economical and more sustainable life on earth. The more goods we reuse, the more energy we save, and the less valuable materials we waste. The best shows are alive - on stage, in videos, in minds, in books, and in memory. Thinking about waste in relation to art productions is a tricky, probably nonsensical question. A play that has been performed for a year is not trash. Yet the production and consumption of art is a reality. While the possibilities of material reuse are given, the boundaries of art recycling remain fluid. Who is allowed to recycle, how, and who has the right to grant permission? Props, technology and costumes can be reused. Metaphorically also thoughts, music, atmospheres, choreographies and aesthetics. What else? Is there anything that remains and cannot be reduced or recycled?
In DIY style, we explore the limits of recycling live art on local theater stages with the collected dance performances. In doing so, we save and waste energy, conserve, and attempt to push the boundaries of existing productions. Whether we can reduce our Co2 footprint with this remains questionable, perhaps we could at least save the miles to original productions that are far away or long in the past.
Credits
Concept + Performance: MFK Bochum ⎜Camera + Performance: Anna Lugmeier ⎜Stage + Performance: Lars Blum ⎜Outside Eyes: Judith Ayuso, Milo Juráni ⎜Trainer: Edita Antalová
Supporter & Partner
RECYCLING DANCE is a production by MFK Bochum in flausen+ coproduction with Sensemble Theater Augsburg, Theaterwerkstatt Pilkentafel Flensburg and Theater im Ballsaal Bonn. RECYCLING DANCE is funded by the Kunststiftung NRW. flausen+ is supported by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media through the program "Promoting Connections" of the Bundesverband Freie Darstellende Künste e.V. Many thanks to all collaborating artists! Our special thanks for technical advice and support go to Manuel Melzer, Carlos Franke and Sebastian Seidel.
About the costume
"Over time, nudity and nakedness have come in all shapes and forms, exposing how nudity is a continuum and a process rather than a state. The fluid forms of nudity result from the contexts of production and from artists’ projects. The motivations of specific artists who use nudity as a staging device, as well as audiences’ responses to bodily exhibitions, allow a number of key features of this physical act to be identified. In short, reasons to strip actors of their clothing on stage can be ideological, esthetic or financial…" and sometimes also material and ecological."
(JOUVE Émeline, LEMOINE Xavier, « Nakedness: the Empty Signifier of Contemporary Bodies in Performance?)