25th July 2024
Moving forward? - intention released into movement - a prestigious international contemporary dance project between Romania and Northern Ireland
What if we could understand dance without the support of music or words - if we could feel and define it as an expression in its own right, a unique language, self-sufficient and at the same time accessible to the viewer? PETEC, in partnership with Echo Echo Dance Theatre and Flowerfield Arts Centre, formed an international team in search of an answer to these questions, based on the Poetic Movement methodology and philosophy formulated by the Irish choreographer Steve Batts in the project Moving forward? - intention released into movement. The project consists of four phases - a series of workshops for young people entitled Intention released into movement, a dance performance in the Flowerfield Arts Centre space entitled All in Good Time, a round table in the Derry arts community, and a series of movement workshops for people over 50 entitled Body Wisdom.
The work of the team of artists from Romania (Virginia Negru, Cătălin Diaconu), Moldova (Alexandra Soshnicova, Serghey Golovnea), and Northern Ireland (Steve Batts) is based on long theoretical research, which starts from the premise that movement is never by chance, or just for the sake of movement, nor does it rely on music, text, or theatrical dramaturgy to justify its existence. Thus, the workshops invite the audience to experiment and familiarize themselves with techniques of movement and composition, starting with their own movements from the memory and imagination already contained in their own bodies, and then transforming them into dance by investing them with attention and poetic intention. Through intention, movement is charged with meaning and artistic content.
Movement can be understood as a specific language, which everyone already knows instinctively, without necessarily being aware of the complexity and expressiveness that it masters. The workshops for seniors are built on this conceptual foundation, already running for six years in Derry, Northern Ireland, organized by Echo Echo Dance Theatre Company, and through this international project, the Romanian artistic team will revitalize the current offer of Body Wisdom facilitators, creating a participatory, safe and positive community environment, expanding the audience of Romanian cultural operators to a new category of international audience. The approach they take is that older people have immense poetic potential embedded in their lives of movement. They remove the expectations that are usually associated with dance as art - extreme mobility, athleticism, agility - and begin the process of expression where people are.
The international artistic team will perform All in Good Time on the Flowerfield Arts Centre stage in Portstewart, Northern Ireland, on August 2, 2024, at 7:30 pm, one of the most prestigious spaces dedicated to contemporary art, performing arts and creative education programs in the UK. The performance approaches dance as a compositional perspective on the world, a meditation on how performers are transformed by their actions, imbuing even the pauses between movements with presence and meaning, just as the pauses between the words of a great speech are not accidental, and attempting to answer profound questions on the borderline between philosophy and art, such as "what is the grammar and syntax of time and space?". The artistic team aims to bring the spectators closer to the performative act and encourages discussions at the end of the performance.
The series of events within the project Moving forward? - intention released into movement, organized by the Association for Theatre and Books and supported by the Romanian Cultural Institute through the Cantemir Programme*, offers platforms of expression between the dance scenes of Romania and Northern Ireland. The project aims to open to an international audience an interdisciplinary collaboration, on the borderline between choreography and movement philosophy, in the context of artistic excellence provided by choreographers and performers at the highest level. Truly, these are "steps forward" for the dance scene.
ALL IN GOOD TIME PERFORMANCE | Friday 2 August | 7.30–8.30pm | Free but advanced booking required. FIND OUT MORE
ADULT DANCE WORKSHOPS | Tues 30 – Wed 31 July | 7–9pm Cost: £15 BOOK NOW
DANCE WORKSHOPS FOR 8-12 YRS | Tues 30 – Wed 31 July | 3–5pm | Cost: £10 BOOK NOW
* This project is co-financed by the Romanian Cultural Institute through the Cantemir Programme - a funding framework for cultural projects intended for the international environment. The Romanian Cultural Institute cannot be held responsible for the content of this material.
