“Embodiments of Dance Transformation”
One-day conference at Kuyum Festival, 10.09.2023 10:00-13:00
Concept, curation & moderation by Nora Amin
Not only is Kuyum Dance Platform interested in presenting new forms of African dance, or neo African dance, it is equally interested in raising awareness and stimulating the debates around a new transfer of knowledge in the dance field that primarily emerges from dance practitioners, and extends to bridge the gap of discourse between dancers in Africa and the African diaspora, and those operating in the larger field of dance globally. This one-day conference aims to stimulate a new, contemporary, and critical understanding of African dance, confronting the colonial heritage, the racist structures, and the economic privileges embedded in the funding and dissemination systems. With this event, we open a new possibility to have a powerful platform of expression, exchange, and knowledge transfer.
With a program consisting of two sessions, the conference will focus on the following questions:
– 10:00-11:30
The realities of the dancing body in Africa: Models of corporealities from diverse societies and how they contribute to a local image of the expressive body, while informing the stage embodiments of dance. This session includes an overview of the socio- political realities in African countries and their systems of governance; how they differ from one place to the other; how the living body produces its own knowledge and stores its memory while providing dance expressions that are embedded in its own corporal experience, rather than being imported; and how the daily realities impact the vocabulary, aesthetics and identity of the dancing body.
Speakers: Felix Dompreh, Meier Eden, Yahi Nestor Gahe and Dudu Zile Volgts.
– 11:30-13:00
Future of a liberated dance: How can we conceive a future of African dance that empowers – and is empowered by- a progressive global dance knowledge versus colonial and racist thinking that create false hierarchies and discrimination between forms, content, practises, origins and embodiments; how can dance be a form of resistance, solidarity and transformation; how can we look back to how African dance has been instrumentalised and exploited – even in economic forms- so that we can invent new ways of making justice?
Speakers: Ricardo de Paula, Raphael Hillebrand, Christa Flaig Isaacs and Dr. Sandra Noeth.
The conference will be filmed and streamed online, and with both physical and online presence. By attending the conference you automatically give your consent to being filmed. The places for physical attendance are limited, therefore prior registration is required until 06.09.2023, kuyumarts.de/contact-us
Please note that the conference space is not wheelchair accessible.
The two sessions of the conference include discussion with the public, whether attending in physical presence or online. The conference offers DGS (German sign language translation). The link for online attendance on Youtube is: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rx1uzcyPMrQ)
Felix Dompreh
Initiator of the initiative Kuyum Dance Platform Berlin, works since 2016 as a choreographer, dancer, educator in Berlin. Will be talking about his experience with Kuyum Tanzplatform.
Ricardo De Paula
His recent works will be the focus of his talk, whether in relation to “Name it” where he attempts a decolonisation of the streets of Berlin and its urban naming, or in relation to other works that develop as a thread.
Meier Eden
Will be talking about his last creations.
Yahi Nestor Gahe
He will be talking about his experience as an Ivorian artist based in Germany, under the title: Diaspora artist: Body and commitment
– the impact of space on the body and choreographic creation
– dance transmission: artistic commitments
Raphael Hillebrand
By working on an international level, he takes up his instinct for socio-political topics and cultural identities and transfers them into his choreographic works of hip-hop dance theater. He is committed to decolonization as well as empowerment and cultural diversity, among other things.
Christa Flaig-Isaacs
She will be sharing her experiences with western and non-western dance forms, as well as her observations, thoughts and ideas on how dance can stimulate transformation, how can dance be a form of resistance and solidarity.
Sandra Noeth
Dance knowledge circulates globally, responding to different contexts and situations as it is passed between bodies, communities, and audiences. Yet, despite their open and transformative qualities, dances are marked by social and political dynamics that unequally distribute a body’s agency, visibility and possibilities for participation in the aesthetic space. In the face of these embodied hierarchies and privileges, how can a practice of dance in solidarity be developed?
Duduzile Voigts
In her Dance practice, she explores healing resources of movement through Southern African Nguni philosophy and audience interactive processes of empowerment. Imagination, play, environmental relations, sustainability and Nguni healing philosophy are sources of inspiration for Duduzile ´s works.