{"id":1746,"date":"2017-02-14T22:36:58","date_gmt":"2017-02-14T20:36:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/journal.dance.lv\/eng\/?p=1515"},"modified":"2018-03-20T13:36:47","modified_gmt":"2018-03-20T11:36:47","slug":"how-to-measure-the-maturity-of-a-performance-dansefestival-barents-in-hammerfest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dance.lv\/eng\/how-to-measure-the-maturity-of-a-performance-dansefestival-barents-in-hammerfest\/","title":{"rendered":"How to measure the maturity of a performance? DanseFestival Barents in Hammerfest"},"content":{"rendered":"

Inta Balode<\/strong><\/p>\n

This text is inspired by a conversation with the participants of Baltic Nordic collaboration project \u201c45+\u201d gathering dancers over age of 45 who are still active in the field. My thoughts and impressions about the project are in\u00a0two texts written after meetings in Riga during Time to Dance festival and Hammerfest during DanseFestival Barents: “Lifelong Dance Practice: Project 45+”<\/a>and “Far north makes a project 45+ last longer”<\/a>. In this text\u00a0I will look at the program of DanseFestival Barents\u00a0<\/a>from the perspective of speculating about maturity of some of the works I saw.\u00a0I believe that artistic maturity is not really the same as passport maturity. The inspiration to look at the festival program from this perspective comes from the statement I heard from \u201c45+\u201d group: \u201cYoung people could have never created work like this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before jumping into the maturity issue some remarks about why I was so interested in DanseFestival Barents. First, the program of the festival features not only big names in contemporary dance fields as \u201cCarte Blanche\u201d but also a Russian folk dance group \u201cDruzhba\u201d from Arhangelsk, local hip-hop and modern dancers, local singers. There are performances in schools, libraries, museums, there are dance films and masterclasses. In short the scale and style of works varies a lot \u2013 from experimental gallery installations to stage folk dance concerts. And all of that happens in\u00a0a town of 10 000 people.<\/p>\n

Second, I am very interested in how dance scene is and and how it is perceived in smaller towns and villages. What role it has, how people feel in it, how body and movement is seen,\u00a0what and\u00a0who shapes and influences that, what are the\u00a0funding systems, relations with other arts\u00a0etc.? Hammerfest is different from Latvian small towns not only because of climate but also largely because of funding, available infrastructure etc. At the same time I saw many similarities.<\/p>\n

Third, I really\u00a0wanted\u00a0to see the Northern lights. I saw some and it was so beautiful! I remembered my time in Faroese islands where organizers of culture events said that it doesn\u2019t matter how great the show and marketing is, but if it will be a sunny day nobody will come. I could also skip some shows because of nature. Sense of nature and\u00a0space sets the values and rules. It has an impact also on how people see dance. Is contemporary dance an urban phenomena? Seeing dance in Hammerfest and talking to people gave me a realization that it is very similar to smaller towns in Latvia. Not climate, not money, but size, speed, closeness to nature influences attitude towards arts, towards dance and body.<\/p>\n

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Maturity as responsibility <\/strong><\/p>\n

A choreographer and yoga teacher Arnis Sili?\u0161 (one of the participants of \u201c45+\u201d) said that the project actually should be called \u201c49+\u201d because this is the borderline when human body is complete, it has went through all stages of growth and after that its life quality depends on psychic powers. In a way this is when a full human being starts. Or ends, if nothing was understood till then. Anyway I stick to my point of view that maturity is a more tricky concept.<\/p>\n

Cambridge dictionary says that adjective \u201cmature\u201d means: \u201cMentally and emotionally well-developed and therefore responsible\u201d<\/p>\n

Looking at the festival program as a whole I can say that it very young and very mature at the same time. How is it possible?\u00a0I saw the program as quite apocalyptic. And I associate apocalyptic feelings with maximalist attitude\u00a0of young age and deep sense of worry and responsibility of maturity.\u00a0The sense of change, transition, revising past, predicting future, living in nostalgia about some imaginary golden age which once was or once will come was very strong for me.\u00a0 Some of the works had hope, some \u2013 not really. Though for me the hope won. I am wondering is this a sign of maturity or naivety.<\/p>\n

\u201cMentally and emotionally well-developed and therefore responsible\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Opening night of the festival was very, very responsible because it was taking very good care of the local community, local artists, their anniversaries, their representation, also about funders and guests. The opening night was thinking about being attractive to regular audience who has their preferences. The opening night was emotionally very sensitive though got criticism in local press stating that almost everything was seen already,\u00a0nothing new except the group of older performers (“45+”!). I cannot argue because everything was new for me. But to advocate for the festival I can say that the program was the representation of the local reality both activity and taste wise. If the organizers know that people really love Russian folk and show ballet and has been waiting for it would it be responsible to refuse to show that kind of work? Once people see that organizers try to feel their needs they might be more open to all the other performances in the program because they trust the organizers as\u00a0well-developed and responsible people.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Double bill \u201cWe Are Here Together\u201d by \u201cCarte Blanche\u201d included two works \u201cGjallarhorn\u201d (choreographer Mia Habib) and \u201cThe Who of Things\u201d (choreographer Marcelo Evelin). Both shows were big group pieces and put together each to other they looked like two versions of posthumanism –\u00a0first was more urban\u00a0and the second one was\u00a0more into nature laws. There is no doubt about the well-developed skills and responsibility to present polished dance works to the audiences.\u00a0\u00a0On the other hand emotional and mental side of what happens on the stage feels quite young and doesn’t leave much trace in the memory. It felt that there are somehow not enough questions. Just many dancers doing their work very well which is very good. Though not much inspirations for further discussions.<\/p>\n

–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Dance ensemble \u201cDruzhba\u201d for me was something out of time and space so it is kind of difficult to guess its level of maturity because it doesn\u2019t have much connection to life and contemporary processes in art. They were executing the well established tradition in a very good way and with professional attitude so they were definitely very responsible. They were well-developed within the certain\u00a0tradition of commercialized\u00a0folk and ballet\u00a0I don’t know very much about. What it means to be mature in this\u00a0I don’ t really know but there were definitely enjoyable moments also moments where I almost could not believe that what I am seeing is offered in a serious way. At the same time I can say that\u00a0“Druzhba”\u00a0night gave me more food for thought than “Carte Blanche” and even more inspiring was the sharing of the same program. If there would be some discussions around that (may be they were or have been but I am not aware of them) it would be extremely\u00a0interesting!<\/p>\n

–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cWhat a classic is and how it performs in (our) time. Paul McCarty, Rocky 1976\u201d by Andrea\u00a0Spreafico had an intention to be mentally well-developed and perform an intellectual tour into certain side of history of performance art. The work responsibly manifested itself as not jumping into present and future without knowing and understanding past. Though it was emotionally hard to grasp how this reconstruction would help the development of body practices today. I was watching tricks with a\u00a0dick of a performer\u00a0and lost all the mature thoughts I might have had about the piece. Is apocalypses when the past doesn\u2019t help to understand the present?<\/p>\n

–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cNoise Control\u201d by Mari Boe and Silje Solheim Johnsen was well developed and thought through in form and content. It was definitely happening today and with people (both audience and performers) of today. I know and I felt they are young but the emotional sense of each other, space and other people as well as trust was very mature and up to the date for me. I was happy about the maturity of the work inhabiting in the\u00a0young spirit. The world has a hope.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cSussuro\u201d by Flow productions was another quite an apocalyptic journey in destruction and rebirth, and loneliness as escape of the end of the world. With a lot of responsibility against detail and need to slow down the wild unconscious speed of the world.<\/p>\n

–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cMe too\u201d by choreographer Kristin Ryg Helgebostad was one of those works you get curious about because the set and layout, and actions doesn\u2019t give a direction about where this will go. For me it one of the signs of mental maturity \u2013 to talk without saying (quoting Jan Ritseema). The proposal of the situation and trajectory without superiority. At the same time those kind of works can be also seen as not\u00a0emotionally mature enough because for some people they become very annoying and almost painful. They can look like self-sufficient worlds not having any responsibility about the world. Another form of apocalypse \u2013 if we don\u2019t like the world we see we create a new one. I enjoyed this one even if it was much detached as more\u00a0emotionally mature work \u201cNoise Control\u201d<\/p>\n

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–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cThe Moon\u201d by Anna Sophia Bonnema, Hans Peter Meloe Dahl, Davis Freeman, Joanna Preiss. Yes, yes, it was the one who had a very strong and positive impact on the \u201c45+\u201d group. I also liked it. One more escape place, yes more mature and full of trust as \u201cMe too\u201d, but also more bitter despite lightness than \u201cNoise Control\u201d. May be this is something young people cannot have to extent like that \u2013 smiling bitterness, wisdom, wish to believe that everything is still possible but always with a shade of doubt.<\/p>\n

Conclusion – more confusion than clarity and this is exactly where I see the responsibility of mature arts.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Photos by Inta Balode. Done when it was not said that it is not allowed.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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