L i s t e n i n g – sound narratives of a dance

Abstract

This work is an invitation to listen: to a body, a dance, a landscape - of sounds and silences becoming present in one moment and leaving in the next. It is a fluid exploration of dance and how it can be shaped and experienced if the focus lies not in the eye, but in the ear. How does what we see change, transform, become, appear, disappear or remain if we experience them through their sounds? It began through walks through a city and forests, where Sara noticed the effects of listening to the environment on her body: how she moves, is moved and connects and digests inner and outer worlds. This developed into a practice of listening to trees, waters, bodies and as a dance practitioner further to movement. It became a way for her to engage with various layers, which inform, influence and shape her approach to dance. She specifically deals with and listens to the historic, contemporary and mythological narratives and vocabulary of the dance practice Bharatanatyam, a descendant of the temple and court dances of South India. The durational three day work consists of a performance and further invites the audience to spend time in the Listening Room and its changing soundscapes, which remains open on all three days for several hours before and after the performances. On the last day the work finds an end through a closing performance. The installation consists of recordings, which were made in the process of one year working on this project. The writing piece of the work makes space for thinking about how this listening practice can be understood as a proposal to both critically and openly engage with passed on knowledge through decolonial strategies, queer reclamations and ecological reflections. Participants: Sara Mikolai Credits: Sara Mikolai: performance| installation| sound: concept, recordings, music Isuru Kumarasinghe: music | sound designThanks: Isuru Kumarasinghe, Diana Mikolai, Alexander G. Roberts, Kiran Kumar, Haraldur Jónsson, Margrét H. Blöndal , Steinunn Ketilsdóttir, Númi Sigurðsson, Egill Ingibergsson, Sigurður A. Sigurðsson, Helga Dögg.