I would love to do a film with Alessandra – that’s for sure!
One pearl after the other (AT)
A portrait: Alessandra Corti
Pop Up Residenz, 1. – 13. April 2024, Staatstheater Darmstadt
Alessandra Corti and Judith Hummel share the two week Pop Up residency in Darmstadt. We will start researching on the (multilayered) pathways of dance makers. The careers and lives of dancers interest us: working internationally with different influences and voices on/in their bodies they are living and forming dance history. In this first residency we will work with the dance maker Alessandra Corti. Judith Hummel is together with Alessandra shaping the work and its path. Where did her career start? Who were important people on her way becoming a dancer and maker? What imprints are made and left behind?
In order to collect material for our research we will have interviews with people that are important to Alessandra. From there we will create tasks and methods to create an artistic work around movement and text.
The residency will provide a workshop on April 5th from 6-8 pm as well as an open showing of the research on Aprill 11 at 7 pm.
I believe in the idea of giving dance makers a voice and visibility through such a portrait.
April 1st I left Munich in the early morning for a two week residency together with Alessandra Corti at Staatstheater Darmstadt. Looking back the first week feels full of travels between the three cities Darmstadt, Mainz and Frankfurt in order to meet people close to Alessandra and have an interview with them about her. Here we are – this is our theme: we are here to research on creating a portrait for her as a dance maker.
It started one year ago when we decided to apply for funding for the project “One pearl after the other”. We did not receive the funding so far but we were given this residency. In the weeks before the residency we met online and prepared by forming interview questions, collecting and contacting collaborators that were or are close to Alessandra. I started diving into Alessandra’s life, into her past, on a dance history track.
A strong moment was the interview I had together with Alessandra’s husband Andreas Etter. An intimate moment with a beautiful lamp inside a black space. The day after we listened to the audiorecording in the studio, having Alessandra move to it, hearing the voice of her husband answering questions about her for the first time – this was our concept. The question “who am I in this?” came along as I was observing Alessandra with the camera, sometimes just watching. Accompanied by the book „And then it got legs. Notes on dance dramaturgy“ by Jeroen Peetes brought sometimes clarity to me. Not all the interviews were smooth – also for Alessandra I assume it was filled with different (emotional) moments. At some moment I noted: What do all the words leave on her body?
Doubts came along: Did we choose for the “right” questions? Was it right that Alessandra was part of forming the questions? Do the questions give space for “diverisity” inside the portrait and not purely praise a beautiful dancer?
The weekend was a time for re-reading the interviews. For choosing moments as our goal was to create an audiofile with all voices. An ambitious goal. Monday, second week was an intense day of laying out a line. We are editing. How is a portrait being created? It is all choices! We choose the people. We choose the questions. And we choose the answers. One talk I had said: maybe one way of creating validity is when elements appear more often than once.
I am curious how we will proceed. How we can proceed in a moment of no funding structure. Open end. I believe in the idea of giving dance makers a voice and visibility through such a portrait. I wish the journey to continue and in the future leading to a durational work of many of such solos.
Thank you to all the interviewees
Avi Kaiser & Sergio Antonino, 27.3.2024
Andreas Etter, 1.4.2024
Amber Pansters, 2.4.2024
Valentina Moar, 3.4.2024
Zachary Chant, 4.4.2024
Ronja Eick, 5.4.2024
Fanni Schack, 5.4.2024
Simon Van Heddegem, 5.4.2024
Open end.
Open end.
Open end.