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Teaser on Youtube
Moon eaters
Performance created in partnership with the dance département of the St.John University of York (U.K.), incorporated in the project Newtopia 3.
Madness : in what degree are the symptoms of a certain loss of psychological integrity signs of a dysfunctional social context? Do we tend to judge people with psychopathologies as “too weak” to face reality? What do we fear when we lose “control”? How are deviant behaviors addressed in other cultures? How to find force and inspiration in our states of “madness”?
Video teaser : Moon eaters on youtube.
Photos : flic.kr/MOON
Conception / direction : Dimitri Tsiapkinis
Dance / dance students from the undergraduate Dance Company of York St John University / Flight Effect Dance : Hannah Almond, Sophie Cox, Logan Davenport, Helen Dearden, Chloe King, Shannen Midgley, Stephanie Needley, Ellie Noyce, Louise Oldfield, Stephanie Roberts, Jessica Scott, Paige Sharrock, Eleanor Siddall, Eleanor Smith.With the support of their professor Nicola Forshaw (Nicola Mirfin)
Length : 30 min
Content :
Sculpting a living sculpture, a corporeal poem, a community Symphony…
Interrogating social cohesion, singularity or extreme singularity to the borders of the socially acceptable. At the meantime regaining access to local responsibility: the future is ours… Why am I on stage? To entertain? To elucidate? To (re-) transmit esthetic content? How can I share space-time with you? When should I erase myself so that you can arise? When is madness a strength instead of merely a “disorder”?
Moon eaters was a double challenge. Accomplishing an artistic performance while considering the educational dimension for the soon to graduate dance students.
The root concept was associated to the Newtopia performance series: promoting artistic and social creativity through kinesthetic intelligence, solidarity and social engagement. Since Newtopia 2 and 3 were strongly associated to mental illness, we thought of sharing our philosophical questioning on madness with the young participants of the Saint John University.
Why Moon eaters?
Moon : The moon has been associated to ecstatic states, to the female archetype (not everywhere), to the dream world. Although, science refutes these phenomena as cultural constructions with no tangible evidence, artists have the advantage of esthetic experimentation and poetic questioning of various scientific, social and moral “truths”.
Eaters : because I needed an alternative to Luni, plural of Lunus referring to the notion of the “moon worshiped as a man”; although there was a valid link to Lunus, Luni seemed to have a negative meaning in the British society and might have distorted the real artistic intention. While searching for ideas, I found a creative Commons photo-montage of the moon having been bitten and thought it was appropriate with content of the piece plus it called for imaginary links to various archetypes that were dealt with during the conception.
The students participated actively in the construction of the choreographic content with movement, texts and dramaturgical suggestions.
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<The poems used :
Golden Age by Arthur Rimbaud; integral version in French & English : HERE
Cover this Brain by Dimitri Tsiapkinis; integral version in English : HERE
Tour :
8th of March 2016 : Haddersfield (UK)
14th of March 2016 : Selby college (UK)
17th of March 2016 : Joseph Rowntree High School (UK)
15th of April 2016 : Oldham college (UK)
4th of May 2016 : Pléiade, La Riche (France)
6th of May 2016 : Yorkshire Dance / Leeds (UK)
18th of May 2016 : Create16, Blink 2 / York (UK)
20th of May 2016 : Create Dance Trail / York (UK)