Editorial
so here we are again
ending at the beginning
the circle turns into a spiral
after full year of reflecting together on the world we found ourselves in,
choreography, improvisation and somatic experience in dance,
its potentials and the past, the present and the future of dance and
of all of us
we will meet in the techno club and in park in Poznan and
wherever the companions, the Grand re Unioners are
in forests, beaches, gardens
during the lightest days of the year
(in the northern hemisphere)
we will dance the slow rave,
move the mirror and complete the image,
we will jump, catch and fall,
we will hear and talk on the times
in isolation,
in our homes,
in our countries,
in ourselves
apart
and yet still
together
throughout the year
there has been changes,
we embrace them,
our own transformations
as well as
our individual and communal
gains and losses
the death of George Floyd, his inability to breath,
the heavy drop that burst the water holding barrel
starting to wash away racial injustices in the US and the world.
we seem to breathe so much stronger.
are we?
July riots on the streets of Poland
attack on human rights, aimed at the weakest
the minorities, LGBT+ and females,
resulted in violent ruptures, arrests, absurd prosecutions
August devastating explosion in the harbor of Beirut
open wound in the city tissues
September revolution in Belarus,
so hopeful and so mass protests after 27 years of dictatorship,
females dancing and singing on the streets dressed in white
now, almost a year later,
political prisons, beatings, intimidation
spreading of fear and despair
how many more planes need to be hijacked?
and then US administration changing
bringing back some raw of light in the tunnel,
and hope
(just, to whom? and, for what?)
ongoing news from Brazil so scary,
ongoing neglecting of pandemic
ongoing cold blooded genocide
students and faculty of the film and theater academy in Budapest
protesting against the political takeover,
a tsunami of revealed abuse in Polish theatres
and
a forced legal approval of close to total abortion ban
and another bloody escalation of the conflict in Palestine
and another open wounds after losses of
Nancy Stark Smith
Mary Overlie
Raimund Hoghe
Anna Halprin
and all our closest and friends and masters
and yet
dance, improvisation and choreography,
the doing and the thinking and
writing about it,
the dialogue of artforms
in social and political contexts
continues and will continue
to do its work.
sometimes subversive as undercurrents that
softly but constantly reshape riverbeds and build foundations
sometimes out in the open with big groups at raves and parties, at parades and demonstrations.
sometimes in the intimacy of our own shelters
life and love
prevail
with another June encounter
after year of our zoom only gatherings,
we wish finally to breath with an open air
at the same time, reaching out into mixing the media:
the unsubstantiated life performance of dancing and
the digital meeting forms we have discovered and tested and
tried so creatively to master
over the last year
the future is
as always
unknown,
let’s improvise together,
let’s use our skills, the connections, the newly knoted knots in our net
to hold us, to nourish and strengthen our work locally and in the world.
let’s celebrate
let’s mourn what we will leave behind
let’s embrace what we will still find on our way,
when the Earth improvises underneath our feet
let’s dance
again and again and still
Together.
