Photo par Dimitri Tsiapkinis
Newtopia 8 (2020) / Polarities and Dissonances
Inclusive choreographic and artistic events developed around the conviction that dance participates in the construction and re-construction of self and community.
The new series of Newtopia for this year 2020, which seems to be a year of majestic social discordance, already draws – since September – its theme from the « games » of opposition, polarity and duality.
For Heraclitus, discordance is desirable as a primordial ingredient to form Harmony:
« Opposites fit together, discordance creates the most beautiful harmony: becoming is a struggle. « Heraclitus
Falling, rising…
Tensions crush us but they also keep us on our feet.
Some of us are not afraid of conflict, others – like me – live in anguish about impending conflict. Art could give us the support we need to contain opposites, without them breaking us. Nevertheless, art is not therapy. It can heal us, but it can also tear apart our worldviews and leave us powerless. Which pole to choose, which perspective, which truth and when? Every step, every breath draws new lines on our dualistic cartographies. Could the 21st century reveal other, non-binary answers to the miracle of life? What evolution to conceive for Humans, when Artificial Intelligence has already transcended the binary mode with Google’s quantum supercomputer?
On France Culture Radio the other day, it was said that morality and kindness have become old-fashioned terms. Ditto for love and soul…Why? Rationalism and scientism at this beginning of the 21st century couldn’t stand the dissonance and complexity of our psyches? Not easy to quantify, to fit into universal concepts? Hence, perhaps the exclusion of psychoanalysis from our hospitals?
Albert Camus said: « I know only one duty, and that is to love ». What is love? Are we missing bits of our humanity, by losing mysterious dimensions of our being-here, that link us to the world in a poetic way?
Yes…immense questions that we don’t really understand, but which intrigue us all the same and challenge us to redefine our place in the world.
A new challenge with ourselves is emerging: what dance to invent on our confused steps, in an incessant oscillation between black and white, masculine and feminine, zero and one? In spite of our limited knowledge, our neuroses, our psychoses, each of us will search for answers with our singularity, our subjectivity, our experience… An unpredictable equilibrium game that renovates our existential vertigo? I don’t know yet what form it will take, but the bodies of the performers have already started to vibrate and it is exciting to observe them in this new adventure.
That’s it! Our team will plunge into the poetics of oppositions, duels, contrasts, in order to embrace but also transcend the dualisms that inhabit us.
With Newtopia 8, Dimitri Tsiapkinis, the Omnivion team and its partners, reaffirm their artistic and solidarity commitment to face the social challenges of our century: immigration, cultural diversity, resource sharing, equity, social justice, ecology. Taking pleasure and fighting to affirm experimental projects that test pedagogical approaches in contemporary dance, in the psychiatric context (CHU de Tours).
On the program: a new creation, performances by guest artists, documentary screenings and a new photo exhibition. This year’s main creation is Omni/Nihilum and will be in partnership with Le Petit Morier!
We are waiting for you to dance and exchange :
– 12 mars 2020 : Newtopia 8.1 / ciné-débat en coproduction avec les Arpents d’Art et le magazine TRAKT! aux cinémas Studio, Tours (37000),
– 15 août 2020 : Newtopia 8.2 / improvisation chorégraphique au Festival les Inattendus, avec des matières d’Omni-Nihilum, à la Guinguette de Tours (37000)
– 8 Décembre 2020 – 14 février 2021 : Newtopia 8.4, exposition photos de Bernard Duret à l’hôpital Bretonneau et Trousseau, Saint-Avertin (37550)
– 2 & 3 octobre 2021 : Newtopia 8.3 – OmniNihilum / création chorégraphique au Petit Morier (37000)
– Décembre 2021 : Newtopia 8.5, performance et projection au CentreSocial la Rabière (37300) [à confirmer]
Partenaires et financement :
