Dancing Together, Again! Creative Residencies Programme

  4-18 March 2024 Residency in Naples, Italy. Topic: INCLUSIVITY Inclusivity in dance and the performing arts was the theme of the two-week residency in Italy, part of the creative residency programme "Dancing Together, Again!" organised by Movimento Danza in collaboration with the Arts Research Institute of Georgia, TRAFIK Dance/Theatre Company and the National Institute of Music and Dance of Poland. The twelve participants in this third residency, which began on 4 March and ended on 18-20 March, were selected through an open call from four participating countries and engaged with the Italian dance community to discuss inclusivity in the performing arts, with a focus on intergenerational and intercultural exchange. The ideas gathered during these exchanges were incorporated into the choreographic creations developed during the residency and presented to the public on Saturday 16 March and Sunday 17 March at Spazio Körper. "Inclusion", explained Gabriella Stazio, ch...

When you realize that you are where you should be! By Michel Zakaidze 

Second week was personally about embracing the Taurus, my zodiac sign. After sickness and a lot of struggles in my personal life, I joined the process which my group already developed for few days. It was both challenging to align with what they’ve created and interesting to find myself in a role of a person who try to gather it together and give the work more concrete structure. In the background I was practicing “personal inclusion” of my vivid emotions, trying to embrace my personal Taurus. By Wojciech Furman

DANCING TOGETHER AGAIN in Napoli was a creative dialogue, an artistic exchange and it is there that we follow paths that touch both the material spheres and those of our souls, bodies and sensations, intuitions, sweat and visions. I would say it was a healthy way to be together and enrich our paths. Today, in a certainly hot and confusing historical moment, I think that these opportunities are a godsend, and that it is our duty as people and artists to make the most of them. The cornerstones of this experience are INCLUSION and HORIZONTALITY, which we savored, discussed, danced and which I hope can be experienced even more clearly and deeply in the new future experience in Poland. By V aleria Geremia

Beneath the surface A city founded by the Greeks, become a cultural center under Romans, fought to become a Kingdome of Naples to finally unify into Italy and today become the third biggest city in Italy – Napoli. Layer upon layer of history, partially forgotten, but built into the city’s everyday life. Its streets echoing with history layered beneath its surface. The labyrinth of underground tunnels, aqueducts with WWII shelters for 10 000 people, underground road and a shopping center that was never finished, from amphitheater built into the apartment complexes to garbage disposal shafts, contemporary funiculars and metro lines create subterranean veins of a live city. Connecting past and present, Napoli’s residents and tourists walk those paths everyday, living in the houses made of the same stones mined for centuries and slowly digging new tunnels for easier transportation needs, discovering centuries of history and survival of Napoletani. The layers of the city testify to the surv...

This part of the residency was perhaps the most complex, because the expectation of restitutions perhaps made my approach more practical and less free, open, and speculative. This is also part of the game, and I tried to make up for this tendency by renewing the spirit each day. As a group we continued, as much as possible, to maintain shared trainings of at least half an hour before proceeding to the work of the individual groups, and I find that this was fundamental to maintaining a spirit of sharing and research. As a result, the energy of the group remained high and the relationships gradually became stronger and our souls more and more blended. The two evenings at the theater were very strong energetically, poetically and artistically, and it was very nice to meet all the people involved in the project, as well as the audience who came there to learn about this experience and live together these moments of sharing in which, compared to a full performance, we get even more exposed,...

Horizontal viewpoints / Getting to the sea  At the second half of DTA art residence in Napoli, I was drawn to experience different spaces and perspectives of an outside environment and at the same time witnessing how these new perspectives and views influenced and informed my daily practice and viewpoints. As part of an organic creative process, after spending hours in dance studio, I've immersed myself into colours and shapes of beautiful city of Napoli allowing myself to arrive, ground myself and get inspired by environment, architecture, beautiful coffee aroma, gelato, and streets full of people. Staying mainly in Vomero area for the whole first week of artistic residence, my natural desire to explore and search for new spaces and pathways began to activate in the remaining time. At first, I discovered it in the form of limited views to the sky or narrow street spaces created by the opposite raws of houses on a short distance, both inviting to be filled with some imaginative or ...

Throughout the process there was this one question floating around and inside: „What if where I am is what I need?”. It is a question by Deborah Hay, which she asked herself in her solo performance „No time to fly”. It opened the whole group process of creating the score and led us all to the final form at this part of the residency. Based on all the reflections, suggestions, physical experiences I wrote this short poem that somehow describes the final group score but is still an invitation to dance. In space's vast embrace, we find our playground, A canvas blank, awaiting tales untold. With each step taken, new worlds are found, Infinite potential waiting to unfold. The air around us hums with possibility, A symphony of movement, fluid and free. We dance with joy, in joyful unity, Exploring realms of boundless creativity. Each gesture speaks of dreams yet to be, As we connect and weave our shared story. In this landscape of endless opportunity, Together, we unlock the keys to glor...

Lava stones handling white matter I realised something regarding inclusion on the second day of residency. We were taking a picture of all of us in a circle, holding a lava stone from Etna Vulcano that Valeria, one of the participants, kindly gifted to all of us <3.  I looked around, and I noticed that all these hands holding the lava stone were white. It was the first time that it appeared to me that we are a white group. I believe that there is a lot of complexity behind this skin colour and it doesn’t say anything about social class, gender, sexual orientation, discrimination, and so on… Nevertheless I do think that this colour gives a certain access to things. And even though, as I previously said, white is a very complex color, it still gives - and maybe I am going more towards the idea of diversity here ? - a perspective on inclusion that is white. I am aware that often it is because POC haven’t applied to the call and therefore it hasn’t been possible to choose for a...

The second week of our residency began with a day off and it happened to be my favorite day of all, because of a trip to Pompei, where we had all kinds of weather over the day and a flood of emotions brought by the beauty and poetry of the place and heartbreaking casts of human figures who died during the eruption of Vesuvius. In the next few days, we tried to bring the energy of the ancient temples of Pompeii into our work, which was dedicated to dancing gods and dancing humans. The work of the three wonderful artists of our group: Ana Nikolashvili, who is mainly a drama actress, Sara Lupoli, a contemporary dancer and Valeria Geremia, a butoh dancer and their different approaches to the bodywork,  from the beginning reminded me of three muses of Apollo of George Balanchine, so we tried together to build up a story about a path of approaching to the divine nature by humans. And the journey to this was exciting.  By Irina Bagauri  

Senza titolo The man is an animal of promise* Looking at one of the installations (Senza titolo, Mario Merz) in the Vanvitelli subway station in Naples, composed of neon Fibonacci spirals and numbers stretching from the spiral blue neon tube of the upper vault above the stairs leading to the trains, over the wall painting of Merz's prehistoric animals, I recalled this statement by Jacques Derrida from his book L'animal que donc je suis (The Animal That Therefore I Am). Photo 1. Blue neon tube Merz's work described as large spiral comprising a blue neon tube installed in the vault, was one of the last works created by Merz before his death. It is a geometric representation of the Fibonacci series, which also continues on the vertical wall at the back, next to a succession of prehistoric animals. The series of numbers identified by Leonardo Fibonacci in the thirteenth century has appeared in Merz's works since 1969. The artist interprets this progression in which each nu...

Born Humans - Moving Humans - Thinking Humans - Exploring Humans - Creating Humans - Worshiping Humans - Moving Humans - Dancing Humans - Dancing Gods The human body is a wonderous thing! Especially when you consider how intricate, efficient and “mysterious” each bodily system is. One of them named - musculoskeletal, with all its muscles, ligaments, bones, tendons and connective tissue is responsible for our movement, started climbing out of bed each morning, followed by all the countless activities and movements that follow. The System is divided into two broad system - Muscular and Skeletal and together they provide our body also with stability, shape and support. But what happens if any of these …. And still, everything begins with the birth.. no - with conception.. no - with energy.. no - with the matter.. no - with the soul of pure.. no - with intention.. no -with boredom.. no - with creation.. probably, with hen or egg.. or maybe with Titans.. Let’s not be confused and think abou...

It was about the definitions this time.  Started from the beginning.  What does respect mean?  What does inclusion mean to me?  What about dancing?  What makes me feel excluded or left out sometimes form it?  For today I think it is a technique.  Should dance have some rules/definitions/frameworks? Yes, if you consider it a product. But as a kind of „conscious movement” it simply IS, by itself, this „pure version”. Only to provide pleasure – pleasure of feeling my body, or to be connected into the others and into enviroment, pleasure of being generous and honest. Only one of the ways of expressions and transformations.  No more, no less, only as much and so much… By Aleksandra Bożek-Muszyńska    

Off limits ideas Where do ideas come from? At what moment do I decide to choose the right idea? Which ideas are wrong, and which are right? Can we even speak of this dichotomy of right and wrong, successful or unsuccessful? Are there any boundaries, or are they set merely to be surpassed on the path of continuous artistic transformation? These questions came to me during the first days of my residency in Naples. Photo 1. Big Heavy Idea The idea for writing this text was inspired by the motifs of artistic installations in the Naples subway, specifically the artworks that you can find at Vanvitelli underground station. The first installation that caught my eye is a huge exposed rock trapped within a glass wall, simulating its fracture under the weight of the big stone whom, with all its force, wants to break through the boundaries imposed upon it. The installation "Off limits" (Giulio Paolini) immediately evoked in me the sensation of weight but also the endless freedom that is...

Becoming sick after not even one day after arrival to Napoli felt a bit surreal. Aligning with topic of inclusivity, it became a personal challenge to include my frustration, anger and powerlessness. The topic of inclusivity which I applied with was about the movement language we create to be communicable for a broad audience. This can mean starting research from pedestrian action and transforming them - I managed to try that with a group during first morning session, based on walking. I kept working on it conceptually while recovering and I propose what is presented below. How the character walks? Try to answer through process described below. Change one aspect at a time. After each change ask yourself a question: “How does this change my internal weather”* Variate aspects such as: rhythm  length of the step tension legs upper body arms swing posture body part positions what is the protagonist? relationships between eyes and lips gaze head position weight center pathway pressure T...

Colorful Neaples welcome us, stimulating the senses, the suggestions, many emotions. A week already passed, of dance, of comparisons, of poetry of body and mind. A fabulous and electrifying Babylon of languages and souls, pure richness.  By Valeria Geremia

Open minds and hearts What I like about international residencies is the possibilities to meet and work with people you would never have the possibility otherwise.  We met in a city unknown to most of us, in a new dance studio and were given the time to do what we do best, create… with openness and inclusion.  We have our ideas, we have skills and experiences and with that we meet and find commonalities. The second part is to accept our differences and work together.   The eagerness to work together, to enjoy dance and music, to participate and share practices, to get to know each other, to be open and friendly was present from day one and is forming in friendships and future collaborations and partnerships.  We found the joy of dance in togetherness.  By Tena Bošnjaković 

Before March 4, I had explored only a few research traces. I had absolutely no idea what to expect and intentionally I did not want to develop anything previously, just so that I would not close myself off and have a way to approach this theme, that is inclusion, as a real creative approach, as a possibility. A way to get out of the solitary mode of creation and leave room for something unexpected. The research perspective that I was interested in investigating is that of the relationship and dialogue between audience and performer, and connections naturally arose, particularly around the leading idea that everyone can dance. I've been getting carried away with new perspectives and a creative richness is slowly emerging that I haven't felt in a while. It is tiresome, but I find it so refreshing to step out of comfort and be challenged to find new ways to deepen and share.  acceptance meeting shame curiosity interest listening novelty diversity          ...

Overgrowing limits While arriving at the new place of artistic research in Napoli, I was simultaneously slowly arriving in my own body, shifting the focus from everything else finally to myself. While being really excited about this rare opportunity to share my space, artistic thinking and my moving body with colleages from different countries, I was becoming aware of my boundaries being pushed off the limits in my everyday life. Thinking about the theme of Inclusion my thoughts were occupied first by what do I feel I need to include in my personal experience and what of this personal experience may be common theme of other people? What is at the edge of my awareness but needs to be seen and heard, who or what is pushed to the corner and should come to the centre? My mind is occupied by a box as a metaphore of isolation, clasified and labeled to cathegories of emphasized boundaries and suppression... but how to use a limit as a potential and an opportunity to transform and grow? What d...

Life is especially interesting and sad because what happens for the first time will never be repeated, so for me the first sensation and first experience is always real. I've seen and heard a lot of interesting things this week, but this is what caught my eye and what i saw first time when i arrived and as always i prefer to tell what i want to say with my music and with my body By Mikeil Zakaidze