On Tuesday 3rd November at 18:30, ŻfinMalta & Heritage Malta invite Rodia Vomvolou, high-profile international dance dramaturg, for the fifth of ŻfinMalta’s Movimento appointments at MUŻA.

 

‘‘Exploring the Dance Dramaturg, this Stranger” – Movimento Appointment 5

 

Rodia Vomvolou tells us more …

 

Who are you (now)?

Ι’m a freelance dance dramaturg and mentor working with independent artists, institutions and dance houses mainly in the Netherlands, Greece and Cyprus but also in other European countries. I’m also an External PhD candidate in the Department of Media and Performance Studies of Utrecht University conducting a research project on the self-positioning of the dance dramaturg. Working both in and with theory and practice, I aim to find ways to create artistic and discursive contexts in which I can accompany and empowered the artists and projects I collaborate with.

 

What relationship have you had or do you hope to build with ŻfinMalta?

Ι’m currently collaborating with ZfinMalta for the first time in the context of ZfinMade, mentoring three of the six choreographers. I have known both the company and Paolo Mangiola by name, following their presence in the European contemporary dance field, but I have never had the opportunity to discover their work in person. I was invited to participate in ZfinMade project as a mentor through the mediation of another dramaturg –my colleague Merel Heering- and I’m delighted for this opportunity. I find the initiative of ZfinMalta to support young Maltese choreographers and provide them with the space and mentoring for growth in the context of a national company’s production, as a very valued one. At the same time on a personal note, coaching emerging choreographers is the favorite part of my practice as a dramaturg. Additionally, the invitation of doing a Movimento session comes in a perfect timing for me, as I’m very much in the process of looking for opportunities to make more visible and articulate the practice and the role of the dramaturg in dance to a general audience. I hope that my relationship with ZfinMalta will continue and evolve into a fruitful conversation and creative exchange.

 

Tell us a story about you and dance.

The story of me and dance is a story of constant discovering and rediscovering, approaching and reproaching new ways of relating and engaging with dance. It starts at the age of 3, when I demanded from my mum to go into a ballet class and I basically spent all of my childhood and teenage years into a studio, dancing ballet and contemporary dance. At first I thought of course that I want to become a dancer, but soon I realized that in fact I prefer to be in the creative part off stage. Then I thought I want to become a choreographer and I tried creating my first choreographic piece with a small group of friends; it again didn’t feel right what I was looking for. It was only when I discovered the role of the dramaturg in dance that I finally felt at home and while I’m growing as a professional dramaturg I’m constantly rebuilding my relationship with dance.

 

How would you describe your relationship to movement (if you have one at all)?

“Dramaturgy is above all a constant movement” dramaturg Marianne van Kerkhoven -the mother of contemporary dramaturgy- once said. As a dance dramaturg I’m constantly relating with movement, Ι’m working with movement, I’m perceiving movement, I’m reading movement. But I’m also constantly moving myself; I’m oscillating between proximity and distance, being close and far away from the creation process and the studio, shifting the energy and impacting the process with my movement. I’m a moving body even when I seem static.

 

What are you planning to present on the 3rd November at MUŻA as part of Movimento?

What is the role of dramaturgy in dance and choreography? What does a dance dramaturg at work actually do? How can we approach a project from the lens of dramaturgy? Having these questions as a starting point, in this Movimento session we will have the opportunity to explore dance dramaturgy both in a theoretical and in a practical level, through discussion and tasks. We will familiarize ourselves with contemporary approaches of dramaturgy and the role of dramaturg and we will ponder over thoughts and ideas around the relationship of dramaturgy with choreography.

Which three gestures/movements/action verbs do you think will encapsulate this event?

Questioning | Discovering | Activating

 

 

Reserve your Movimento session here!

On Thursday 1st October at 18:30, ŻfinMalta & Heritage Malta invite Michele Tufigno for the first of the 2020/21 season’s Movimento appointment at MUŻA

 

‘From Movement to Dance’ – Movimento Appointment 4

 

Michele Tufigno tells us more …

 

Who are you (now)?

I am the creative director of Studio Tufigno, a multidisciplinary creative consultancy studio focused on the curation of spaces, books, exhibitions and stage productions. Incredibly and, some might say, unhealthily curious, my personal and professional methods are based on research, observation and a healthy dose of deduction with regard to anything I approach, be it an image, choreography or a room.

 

What relationship have you had or do you hope to build with ŻfinMalta?

I first discovered ŻfinMalta soon after its being founded, as a rather enthusiastic audience member, much like many others. It was, however, while watching 2018’s Voyager (several times over) that I truly connected with the company and its expression, bolstered by Paolo Mangiola’s artistic vision and creative depth. I started collaborating with the company in early 2019, lending a critical mind and acting as sounding board to what would eventually become 21 Dances for the 21st Century, which will be premiering on the 9th of October 2020.

 

Tell us a story about you and dance.

My love affair with dance began at a time of intense and unexpected personal change, where I, quite shockingly, often found myself unable to express what or how I felt in precise terms. It was during a contemporary dance performance based upon Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy (Divina by Naupaca Dance Factory) that I experienced an unexpected sense of release, of emotional identification. It was then that I first truly understood how contemporary dance, much like literature and music, could be an immediate conduit for human emotion.

 

How would you describe your relationship to movement (if you have one at all)?

Movement is to me a fundamental form of human communication and emotional expression. Whether it is sprinting in tears, a ‘slow dance’ at a sixteen year old’s birthday party or a full blown stage production, movement and humanity can never be separated from each other.

 

What are you planning to present on the 1st October at MUŻA as part of Movimento?

My Movimento evening will focus upon the human being’s innate need for movement and its universal expression across multiple cultures, before delving into the history of contemporary dance as a return to a more natural form of human expression through movement. The lecture will chronicle the history of late modern and early contemporary dance, framed within the context of every person’s instinct to move, whether that movement be choreographed or spontaneous.

 

Which three gestures/movements/action verbs do you think will encapsulate this event?

Reflection, growth and self-identification should summarise it accurately enough!

 

Reserve your Movimento session here!

 

 

Photo credit: Kris Micallef

On Thursday 6th February at 18:30, ŻfinMalta & Heritage Malta invite Arthur Dumas for our third Movimento appointment at MUŻA

Movimento Appointment 3 : “Transposition: Transposing Life, Theatre & Dance”

Like every art form, theatre and dance get their inspiration from life. But how do artists model life as we know it to give it an artistic form? They transpose it.

Arthur Dumas tells us more …

Who are you (now)?

I am an actor, a performer and a theatre-maker based in France. I trained at at the Jacques Lecoq Theatre School in Paris, which specialises in mime and physical theatre.

What relationship have you had or do you hope to build with ŻfinMalta?

I have been coming to Malta regularly for 3 years as I form part of the theatre company Teatru Triptiku (directed by Jacob Piccinino), and we have already performed several physical theatre works here. From my first visit, I had the opportunity to discover and follow the work of the national dance company as a spectator. We had the opportunity to collaborate with the dancers of ZfinMalta and thus to meet through work. Last year, the artistic director of ZfinMalta, Paolo Mangiola, and his team invited me to participate in the first edition of Movimento. The experience was exciting and very joyful. I find that the initiative of this project opens a beautiful space for sharing and research between artists from all horizons and I am honoured to be part of it. My relationship with ZfinMalta is a conversation, a research space where the questions relating to the practice of an art are shared with everyone and a history which continues to be written (and which, I hope, will continue for a long time).

Tell us a story about you and dance.

Dance was the bridge that led me to become the artist that I am. I started acting from a very young age, falling in love immediately. I must have been 14 years old when I was advised to take dance lessons, in order to perfect my acting through my relationship with the body and space. So I started taking contemporary dance lessons which opened up a whole new world to me, a world in which I found a freedom that I did not know with theatre. But, still, theatre held a special place in my heart… So I kept dancing, and I kept acting. Until the desire and the « quest » for a common place between dance and theatre led me to physical theatre. There I discovered an approach and concrete tools that allowed me to reveal the artist that I am and allow me to explore areas – on stage – that bring together what seems to me unique in dance and in the theatre. And I think what unites them is movement, in its widest sense.

How would you describe your relationship to movement (if you have one at all)?

Relating to my answer in the previous question … everything moves! Movement is life. Bodies move and react to everything, to the environment, to others, to thoughts, to emotions …

I have become a great observer of movement – of movements. I try to stage them to produce something that everyone can recognise through them: life as we know it.

What are you planning to present on the 6th February at MUŻA as part of Movimento?

We will see how movement allows us to translate life as it is on stage.

I call this process “transposition“.

We will see, through 5 steps common to dance and theatre, how to make life is presented on stage, and open our poetic and sensitive look on art. The form of this masterclass is intended to be fun and educational. I’m sure we will have a great time together!

Which three gestures/movements/action verbs do you think will encapsulate this event?

Pull / Push / Support

It might sound mysterious but join me on the 6th February @MUŻA and it will make sense!

Reserve your Movimento session here!

On January 9th at 18:30, ŻfinMalta & Heritage Malta invite Dr. Scott deLahunta for our second Movimento appointment.

Movimento Appointment 2 : “Dance Documentation : Moving Stories”

Scott deLaHunta on the Archiving, Documenting & Translating of contemporary dance practices

Who are you (now)?

I am currently a Professor of Dance at the Centre for Dance Research (C-DaRE), Coventry University, UK and co-director of the Motion Bank project based at the Hochschule Mainz University of Applied Sciences in Germany.

What relationship have you had or do you hope to build with ŻfinMalta?

The artistic director of ZfinMalta, Paolo Mangiola and I met first when he was working with Wayne McGregor in Random Dance in the early 2000s. Paolo took part in some of the first experiments we did with cognitive psychologists looking at how Wayne and his dancers use imagery in movement creation. It has been wonderful to see Paolo developing his own artistic work and career after this. And it is a pleasure to be able to work with him again and Zfinmalta in the context of the new creative commission for Rosemary Lee titled Threaded Fine.

Tell us a story about you and dance.

I began to train in dance and choreography in the 1980s at University. I was coming from more of a sports background and had never thought about movement being the source and material for an artistic work. I was immediately inspired and for about 10 years I performed and made my own artistic work. I was always interested in collaborations with other artists, for example filmmakers and sculptors, and extremely interested in understanding more about the creative process: in learning more about how an artistic work gets made and communicating this to others. Starting in the early 1990s I began to shift from being an artist to being a researcher, still interested primarily in studying creative process in dance and sharing what I discover there with others.

How would you describe your relationship to movement (if you have one at all)?

My relationship to movement is that through movement we come to understand the world we live in through our body and mind connection. Movement includes for me touch and gesture as well as the concept of embodied knowledge. When I think of embodied knowledge, I think of the kind of knowing that emerges through doing and making things, like dances. It is also the knowledge we have that comes from being in constant relationship not only with other people and things, but also with our environment. So movement to me means embodied knowledge and a way of being in the world through sensing and feeling, through experience, which I think needs to be more acknowledged today than ever.

What are you planning to present on the 9th January at MUŻA as part of Movimento?

On 9 January as part of Movimento, my plan is to present and talk about the “Threaded Fine Documentation Project” which is a collaboration between C-DaRE, Motion Bank and ŻfinMalta with the support of the School of Performing Arts, University of Malta. Threaded Fine is a new durational multigenerational work created by choreographer Rosemary Lee. My role in this is to document the creation of this work using methods and tools developed over the last several years within the Motion Bank working on similar projects with choreographers such as William Forsythe and Deborah Hay. I will also present some of this background with the goal of sharing what keeps me continuously interested in and excited about contemporary dance practice.

Which three gestures/movements/action verbs do you think will encapsulate this event?

Opening up and sharing the experience of dance creation