Rosalind Goldberg + Sigrid Hirsch Kopperdal
Dark Dynamite
13 August
We will share excerpts of the material for the upcoming piece Dark Dynamite which will premiere in October 2022.
The body harbors a reserve of dynamite. Lurking under the skin, the destructive forces are existence itself, dissolving identity instead of solidifying it. The body’s capacity to undergo metamorphosis is part of our biology, and we celebrate its ability to change. That change is often seen as something positive, a progression, a step forward. But the capacity for progress comes at a price: it is often counterbalanced by a form of destruction. This does not contradict life - it makes life possible.
Dark Dynamite is a choreography for one dancer, including several sculptures, and an acoustic-electronic choir. The work has been guided by those dark forces that inherently shape our bodies, accelerating or slowing us down, such as fatigue, lethargy, apathy, restlessness, negligence, despair, and looseness. These forces are demanding, they can undo us at any time - something that we rarely talk about. It is the side of life many wishes to forget about. As we push it under the rubrics of medical diagnosis, we try to separate it from the everyday, although this reserve of darkness is nothing less than life itself. The more the vulnerable sides of life are medicalized, the more our sense of normalcy shrinks in turn. By letting the loose and tired side of life unfold, the choreography points to the idea that life isa self-forming matter beyond control, and its dark forces are inevitable game players.
The body harbors a reserve of dynamite. Lurking under the skin, the destructive forces are existence itself, dissolving identity instead of solidifying it. The body’s capacity to undergo metamorphosis is part of our biology, and we celebrate its ability to change. That change is often seen as something positive, a progression, a step forward. But the capacity for progress comes at a price: it is often counterbalanced by a form of destruction. This does not contradict life - it makes life possible.
Dark Dynamite is a choreography for one dancer, including several sculptures, and an acoustic-electronic choir. The work has been guided by those dark forces that inherently shape our bodies, accelerating or slowing us down, such as fatigue, lethargy, apathy, restlessness, negligence, despair, and looseness. These forces are demanding, they can undo us at any time - something that we rarely talk about. It is the side of life many wishes to forget about. As we push it under the rubrics of medical diagnosis, we try to separate it from the everyday, although this reserve of darkness is nothing less than life itself. The more the vulnerable sides of life are medicalized, the more our sense of normalcy shrinks in turn. By letting the loose and tired side of life unfold, the choreography points to the idea that life isa self-forming matter beyond control, and its dark forces are inevitable game players.
*Back