The Importance of Being [Un]Necessary

We are ready to play! Counting down… Another Symposium down the slope of time! In times of turmoil, unrest, bewilderment, instability what is better than coming together and connecting -- not feeling lonely?!

Following Kerstin Kussmaul’s (NZ/AT/DE) line of thinking; wandering into dancing and discussing; questioning, answering, and sharing, then eating and drinking together. Drawing from the Ancient Greeks’ practice of Symposia as a sharing of insight, as a celebration of intent and community; how can one not agree with Claudia Kappenberg (UK/DE) that today the arts need to develop modern rituals, which celebrate idleness and uselessness. Benno Voorham (NL/SE) seems to agree; as he continuously taps into the politics of dance and dance-education East and West, whereas Paula Kramer (DE) wonders what we need and desire to hone our abilities of moving, dancing, being with and responding to this world?

Before we go deeper in thinking and reflecting Trude Cone (NL) reminds us that we need a fine-tuning into the body and the upcoming mental and physical workouts, as if she heard Deirdre Morris (US) as she proposed somatic generosity, in seeking place for explorations of vulnerability, empathetic listening and subjective awareness.  

In another corner Elisabeth Löfer, maRia Probst, Christian Apschner, Cornelia Scheuer (AT) are already leaving the assumption of a relatively homogenic professional dancer’s body, whereas Dorka Farkas (HU) is modelling possible approaches for leading a group for people with different abilities. And David Bloom (DE/US) takes any body into an interactive discussion to focus on the integration of conscious sexuality practices such as Tantra and BDSM into contemporary dance education. On the other end of the line Jasmin Hofer (AT) is proposing a practice inspired by worms. What impact do the earthworms have on the ecology?

Before anyone else, I want to ask about the relation of ecology to the consequences of technology. What impact do media images have on our ecology? Too late; Meryl Murman (US) & Tarren Johnson (US) are already carrying a physical laboratory and open dialogue around embodying sensationalized media images. And Jochem Naafs (NL) is getting ready to take the flag with associative texts and objects into a performance that is discursive and poetic, formal and informal, necessary and unnecessary.

And when things get overwhelming and start risking to be boring (as Jonathan Burrows says “too much good can be boring”), Peter Pleyer (DE) jumps in! What a chief!? His Kitchen Table is a setting for an open discussion about any topic stirring in the Symposium pot promising to feed & refresh us for the Cinematic Premiere of the new IDOCDE initiative – The Legacy Project hosted by Pavle Heidler (SE/HR).

Then we go to sleep!

To wake up to a new day with Galaad Le Goaster (FR); a flavourful, early morning, breakfast time treat of tuning awareness, welcoming weight, and attending to sensation… Then we will be stimulated by Shannon Cooney (US/BE) starting from where we left the nite before; a Moveable Cinema; heightening visual perception, in parallel universes with (Ex)change Perspective laboratory of Andrea Keiz (DE). Underneath it all, Martin Streit (DE) will be teasing us into video documentation. In another facility, Anouk Llaurens (NL) will be inviting to revisit/replay one’s own dance through drawing. As pens move Reflex Outreach scores and thoughts around artistic documentation will be flying all around the globe in the future. As postmen run around, Gabriela Zuarez (NL/ AR) will be visiting Argentinian dance community, Liz King (AT/UK), Lucy Suggate (UK), Gill Hart (UK) will be dancing in museums and Kerstin Kussmaul (NZ/AT/DE) will be getting us lost in the labyrinths of the Autonomous Nervous System as facia will be the story teller of the in between.

Don’t worry if you fly too high above these abstract worlds, we will anchor you with ordinary words -- in extraordinary conversations! Ulla Mäkinen (FI) and Frey Faust (US) will be highlighting the capacity of language around Axis Syllabus. In another dialogue; in relation to the politics and pedagogy of Contact Improvisation, Defne Erdur (TR) and Nancy Stark Smith (US) will be pinpointing the importance of documentation for the work to be discovered & announced by multitude of voices.  

Before the Symposium team ask for your feedbacks, Corinne Jola (UK) will be focusing on feedback practice in dance and how it can inform other feedback cultures, just before Benoît Lachambre (CAN) and Nita Little (US) will be feedbacking on the theme of the Symposium from the perspective of their work, and to react to the other’s response before opening the dialogue towards all participants.

Taking a deep breath as we come to the end of the Symposium, we will close the curtains with Romain Bigé (FR) presenting what he calls ‘the artist’s privilege to displace the borders between what should be noticed and what should not’ and will keep on dancing behind the curtains! Nancy Stark Smith (US) will take us to the harvest of the Underscore as we celebrate The Importance of Being [Un]Necessary!

Yes, it has been a joyfully challenging year for the IDOCDE Symposium Team -- the amazing propositions compiled into this flow of abundance as a result.

We hope you will also be as joyful in following this challenging marathon! As Kerstin Kusmaull would say “Join us as we jump down the rabbit hole and seek embodied knowledge – concerning bodily experience, politics, and art; concerning the playful being precisely articulated.”

With curiosity and enthusiasm,

Defne Erdur

İstanbul 14th July, 2016