Opportunities: Choreographic Convention V: Movement Research, Sofia (Goethe Institut-Bulgaria / Online) Deadline – None

Choreographic Convention V: Movement Research, Sofia

October 10 – 11, 2020 at 11 AM – 5 PM UTC+03

As a part of the “Choreographic Convention” Programme of the project “Life Long Burning – Towards a Sustainable Ecosystem of Contemporary Dance in Europe”

Curated by Iva Sveshtarova, Angelina Georgieva, Willy Prager, Stephan A. Shtereff

Ever since its introduction into dance-making by the pioneers of modern dance, and especially since experimental dance collectives turned improvisation into an artistic practice in the United States in the 1970’s, movement research has generally been understood as a process of finding and generating movement material beyond existing dance vocabulary. Movement is differentiated as an essential materiality of dance, and research takes place in the body of the dancer. The body experiments with kinetic potential or appropriates movements from different spheres of life, on the basis of which it develops movement language. But movement research also operates on a much broader level, which we can only briefly outline here.

Contemporary choreography has complicated the attitude that the body and movement are the main means of expression in dance. They have been subjected to radical deconstruction, examining their culturally assigned meanings. The notion of choreography as an expanded practice has largely emancipated itself from dance and has become increasingly interested not in the individual expressiveness of the body and movement and in shaping them through various techniques, but in the relations they create with other bodies and objects in multi-layered aesthetically organized situations, as well as in their socio-political significance. Digital and dance artists have incorporated new technologies as a creative and research tool that expand the notions of bodily boundaries. Various software programs make it possible to capture, analyse and reconfigure movement in any environment – physical, virtual, visual or acoustic… The growing interest in the history of dance in recent decades has raised questions of the possibilities for archiving, researching and reconstructing the kinetic knowledge of the past.

The Choreographic Convention: “Movement Research” offers a space for dialogue and reflection on new perspectives and approaches to movement research. Over the course of two days, through talks, presentations, conversations with artists and theoretical discussions, the meeting will focus on the following main topics: movement research as an artistic practice, as a form of work with dance archives and its interactions with new technologies and in social movements and contexts. The meeting will be accompanied by an artistic programme with performances related to these topics.