Category Archives: CLOUD

CLOUD Talks: Decolonization & Dance #2

The short documentary series by Aqueene Wilson “WHERE ARE THE BLACK BODIES DANCING?” was launched in 2021 as part of a fellowship at Kunstinstituut Melly. Since then this profound documentary unfortunately received very little attention in the Netherlands, especially the dance world remained silent. In the second edition of CLOUD Talks we will reflect on the creation process of this documentary series for the maker, talk more about the spaces where black bodies dance and look more into the decolonial movements (not) happening in the arts. You can read more about the documentary and the maker below.

Date: 6 March 2022
Time: 20:00
Facebook live event

WHERE ARE THE BLACK BODIES DANCING is a two-part online series that should be seen as a research come to life. Through a visual collection of conversations, performances, and art we question the current racial landscape in contemporary dance, while actively creating space for black bodies. As we live in a time where activism is primal, oppressive structures in dance need to be highlighted. Therefore, we start the series by revealing complex truths like institutional norms, tokenism, and othering. This entire body of work can be seen as a form of counter storytelling, as extremely praised concepts like diversity and equality are contradicted by Christian Yav, Junadry Leocaria, Dalton Jansen, and Chanel Vyent. Through moments of vulnerability, we ask them what it means to be a black body in a white institute. More so, what are the issues behind contemporary diversity? And how do they actively create space for others or themselves?

Aqueene Wilson (Curacao, 1995) is curator, multidiscpilinair artist, autodidacte fotograaf en Caribisch kind. Met het menselijk lichaam als haar meest voorkomende onderwerp en haar achtergrond in dans,  staat ze voornamelijk bekend om het documenteren van het (gekleurde) lichaam door een kwetsbare lens.

About CLOUD TALKS: Decolonization & Dance
Damani Leidsman and Fazle Shairmahomed have conversations with different people from the dance world from a decolonial perspective. They will talk about taboos, hybrid dance, transgressive behavior, the value of categorizing dance in boxes such as ‘amateur and professional’, ‘contemporary and urban’, from underground dance to dance in theaters, museums and beyond… How does dance move now, then, and very soon?The language in which they will speak and move will be a surprise each time, but it will be hybrid in particular! Let’s discover together how we can keep having dialogues!
Read more about CLOUD Talks

BRIDGING | RESIDENCY | IVAN COOK

06-19 December 2021

Presentation

18 December 13:00 – 13:30 & 15:00 – 15:30

A look at the thin line walked between stability and utter insanity.

How the mind and body copes with forced timeouts, everyday living and the need for purpose.

Bridging plays with memorizing forms of music performed by Nikos Charalambous , dancer Ivan Cook explores the depth of extreme physicality and mental despair, through theater and acrobatic dance.

Donation based. Reservation & Covid pass required.

Reservations via: www.cookmovementpractice.online/event

SHOW OFF

After many months of restriction due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Karine Guizzo felt a strong urge to play again – to create and explore new forms and styles of theater.Especially aimed at an adult audience, this tragicomic dance experiment plays with hints of burlesque eroticism and contemporary dance .It is freely inspired by the story of Ovid’s Metamorphoses.Narcissus is represented by two dancers, Lorenzo Capodieci and Paolo Yao. Echo, portrayed by Christie Lou Partelow, is in love with Narcissus but is rejected by him.
The project consists of a few weeks of research in the Cloud@Danslab and 5 presentations for a limited number of audience.
The duration of this studio presentation is less than one hour.
We hope you will come to share this fun and one-off experience with us ! 
Infos and (compulsory) seats  reservations:https://show-off.me/

COSMIC CATERPILLARS

Lecture Performance by Lili Ullrich

Sunday 21 November 2021 at 16:00

In this lecture performance Lili Ullrich will share her research on the Knowing Body, institutional trauma and the Collective Unconscious. During her residency at CLOUD she worked on the performance Kosmische Raupe, in which she translated these topics into a collage of acting, physical theatre, contemporary poetry & sound. You can expect a magical journey into the subconscious mind and mystery of the body. 

We are looking forward to see you then, the space will be open 15 minutes in advance.

picture by Pilar Mata Dupont with a costume by Dragadina and Rico Dyks

New Class: Restorative Pilates

Unfortunately due to too few sign ups this class has been canceled for now .

We’re super excited to have Sophie joining our amazing teacher’s team.

Restorative Pilates
Mondays 18:30-19:30

“In this class I believe it is important to give you the freedom to explore the movement potential of your body. My classes are based on the Pilates method with influences from other movement practices built in to keep it fun, creative and to explore the possibilities of taking your joints through different ranges of motion. 

My focus is on addressing everyday aches and pains. By working together, we can hopefully facilitate more freedom of movement.”
– Sophie Gills

Classes will be in English. Please bring your own mat and head cushion or towel.

Introduction classes 16th and 30th August, 6th and 13th September.

Terms of classes start on October 11th 2021.

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Prices

Single class €13

Block bookings (typically 5 weeks) €12 per class

Please pre-register for class – I will send out an enrollment form asking for a brief medical history so I can target the exercises to you and your needs as best I can.

Private sessions are also available from 60 euros.  Please contact Sophie for availability.

Antenatal class coming soon.

Please contact Sophie to register your interest: sophierigge@hotmail.com

co-existence residency | Bushra Arbawi & Joana Cuiko

ONLINE Presentation Tuesday, 26 January 2021, 15:00 – 17:00.
See also the Facebook event

In the first two weeks of the year, Bushra Arbawi and Joana Cuiko have been working at CLOUD/danslab studio. We are looking forward to welcoming you on our first (online) presentation of 2021.

We are exploring our relations to interconnectivity, questioning who we are as a matter and how our surrounding re/shapes us.
How do we connect with each other?
Western culture raises us with an ideal of independent individuals that can choose to be who we want to be.

How do we approach this ideal of such a culture in an inherently interdependent environment? 

The walk is a continuous fall into a space that is held by gravity.

We are busy, trying to get under each other’s skin. Is this our craving for connection or our hunger for power and control? What do we try to control?

Ideologies and images that are created as we interact hold us in a web that is imagined and at the same time is real.
This web is visible in a dance.
What drives our connectedness? What connects us can separate us as well.

“Is there something behind these gossamer-threads?
What does the body in space teaches us about these mechanisms? 


STEP OUT OF THE STORY residency | Eva Bergerová

Residency Dance/Movement Theater in CLOUD/Danslab

Call for performers, dancers and actors

by Eva Bergerová

This is a call to professional/student dancers, performers or actors, who are open to an experiment and are capable of conscious alteration of emotion and most importantly who are willing to venture on the journey into their own body and mind. An important part is also the ability to improvise.

“For me, the most important in art is the personal message and expression, authenticity and the willingness to dig deeper in yourself and bring that out.”

There is a ´theater method called STEP OUT OF THE STORY and I am very much looking forward to develop this method with other inspiring artists together.

* RESIDENCY HAS TWO PARTS

~ First part: Workshop introduction the theater method ´Step out of the Story´. In this part, there is no commitment needed to continue. It is also possible to be present for a part of the time.

~ Second part: we continue with artists who fit the project and create a work in progress performance with the END SHOW on the 25th of July. The title of the performance is ´Mystery´, inspired by ancient Eleusinian Mysteries, there, where archaeologists say, European theater was born.

This residency is the first step to create a continuously working professional theater group.

Residency consist of the following: < First part: Introduction of the method ´Step out of the Story´

18, 19 July

< Second part: Creating work in progress performance – ´Mystery´

20., 21., 22., 23., 24, 25. July Time will be flexible. Around 5 hours per day.

Performance: 25th of July

About ´Step out of the Story´ method: Our resources are: < Theater/drama techniques (Grotowski, Stanislavski), < Conscious Dance techniques like 5Rhythms (search for an authentic emotion), Open Floor (building dramatic situation),

Movement Medicine (work with the energetic field of the partner and audience), Chinese Martial Arts (wushu – physical exercises). Rituals, searching for the roots of the theater. Personal dance or acting technique of every artist (contemporary dance, ballet, drama actor, performer)

We mix the unique techniques of performers into the blend of the story of performance. We will train you in some techniques according to the method ‘Step out of the Story’, but your own professionality will be the basis for your expression. S.O.S. is developing individual creativity and personal technique. We follow your qualities.

We work with personal engagement as well as the personal development of the performer/dancer/actor. In the performance, I direct, I do not choreograph. After we created the performance story, a part of the scenes are always improvised, but the structure of the performance story is fixed.

More about S.O.S.:
evabergerova.eu/who-am-i/step-out-of-the-story

Cost of the project is 40 €,- for the whole week

Eva’s website: www.evabergerova.eu

About Eva Bergerová

Eva is TheaterMaker from the Czech Republic. She is director, regisseur, dramaturgy, dancer/performer and translator.

Her background is in Drama theatre. She created and worked in two theatre companies in Ostrava. One is Divadlo Company.cz, which has its residency in Strašnické Divadlo and Divadlo Komedie in Prague. As the director, she directed Drama like Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, dramatizations of The Bee Valley and Sand Scythe, novel by Vladimír Körner Korner or Gustav Meyrink’s Golem. Eva also studied and worked in Poland. In Prague National Theatre she directed The Gray Mouse Opera by Petr Komár Soudek as a part of the cycle Banging at the Iron Curtain. 

Her last project in Prague was creating an experimental group called ‘Studio‘ Non-Comfortable Zone. This was a movement, dance and theatre project. In a period of two years the performance and a theater method was born, called ‘Step out of the Story’.

Eva is practicing martial arts, conscious dance, different meditation forms and self-development techniques for more than 20 years.

In the Netherlands, Eva is working as a freelance director, dancer and teacher (Delftse Maakweken – Calling of elements, Mooie Weer Spelen, Home Impro Performances), teaching martial arts and giving theatre and dance workshops. She teaches her weekly classes of embodied dance/meditation called Pure Dance and Ecstatic Dance.

On the theatre ground, Eva created and danced these performances f.e.: Warrior of the DanceKairos (Improvisation Ritual theatre) and Home Impro Stock. With amateurs, she directed these performances: Phoenix from the FireStardust, Flamingo Spirit and I am Paradise.  She also uses to work with live musicians.

Now, the longing for the next step and built professional continuously working theatre dance group is coming into reality and she is recently working on the performance Threemotions in Wolk Rotterdam.

Residency Charlene Galea

Short bio

“My work is aimed at creating a world in which I wish to live in. It reflects images and experiences through my everyday encounter of life and simple moments that we often forgot how beautiful existing is”. The most fundamental motivation is a desire for unity, simplicity and a sense of community. ‘Body, Society and Identity’ are my most common researched subjects and through the medium of photography, performance and human conversations I aim to create spaces of play and reflective thoughts in a world dominated by technology and mass media.

Project

We are living in a digital era where female flesh is more visible than ever. The online world of apps has given the opportunity for any woman to expose herself. It is not about celebrity culture anymore as anyone can become a star for a short moment. But does this mean that we are becoming more seen but less heard than ever before? Have we just become speechless bodies stuck inside an Instagram grid? Throughout 2019 I have disguised myself online in various Sexy personalities. My aim has not been to showcase my body but to address what being ‘Female’ is in a globalised digital world such as Instagram.

Images of sex appeal are present more than ever, whether it is someone drinking a smoothie or someone walking the dog or someone doing yoga there are constant sexy poses. We believe that we are liberated just because of our recognition in society and equal rights as women have moved forward and that sexual freedom in images are a sign for celebrating empowerment. Reality is that we have become more repressed, constantly thinking about our self-image, to modify, to clone, to appear as a decoration in the online world.

The meaning of being sexy has lost its aura, if ten years ago it was about going to work or meeting with friends or for a date with a partner and one was celebrating looking sexy as a special occasion, these days we are obsessed caught up in an image covered by filters and body modifying apps which very often completely alter the real us into a celebrity or influencer clone.

Workshop name ‘Living Dolls’

Question:
Who are we when no one is looking at us on social media?

Are we becoming more than ever alienated from our own sex inside the Instagram grid?

Can play, everyday objects and improvised actions help to recreate the staged sexy pose which is often cloned in advertising and social media?

When

1st February anytime from 15:00 to 20:00
2d February anytime from 13:00 to 18:00
8th February anytime from 13:00 to 20:00
9th February anytime from 13:00 to 18:00

At CLOUD danslab

Automatism and oceanic feeling | Dominique Baron-bonarjee

The title refers to Ocean Mudra Samadhi, the deepest level of collective consciousness according Buddhist philosopher Dogen Zenji (13th Ce.). This installation is the choreographic chapter following 18 months of research which began as participatory workshops with freelancers asking the question ‘ What do we know about free time?’. Thinking of activity, work and measure, I used wearable tech like fitness monitors, and commercial EEG headbands to measure to the point of absurdity and then to reflect on how the numbers correlate to the experience . During the residency I will be working with a DIY ‘wearable’ made of crocheted conductive thread alongside a commercial EEG headband. Small sensors pick up micro-movements of the body and relay them to a sound interface> Through these sensors I will create a ‘flow space’ where the sound composition can alter the viewer’s brain state as well. I will be developing choreography based on the movement research I did in the free time workshops as well as movement practices that work from the premise of non-intentional action. The concept of the work addresses: • Automatism in art history and how nonconscious modes of sense-making and inspiration are relevant to current developments in neurotechnology and science’s contemporary interest in consciousness due to advances in AI. • The commodification of inner and personal realms of experience in imperceptible processes of data extraction and manipulation through online shopping, social media, and ‘smart’ gadgets, what Shoshana Zuboff calls ‘surveillance capitalism’. • How the brain and bodily rhythms can be entrained through practices of meditation, contemplation and mindfulness, but also paradoxically through repetitive tasks that automate behaviour and responses: the flow state in psychology (Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi). This is a state of effortlessness and timelessness while being involved in an activity. • The work takes some inspiration from carnival sound systems in creating a space for communal gathering where people can all move to a shared rhythm that has the potential to bring about group flow or trance.
I will test out structural elements that would allow the public to participate as dancers that create within the installation.
I wish to run a public-facing workshop to explore the choreography with local people, dancers and artists.

Presentation en research 23 November 2019 at 19:00 at CLOUD

Short bio

Dominique crafts an aquatic logic through embodied practices aimed at ‘swimming through’ the contemporary impasse. She borrows from Buddhist psychotechnologies for (re)awakening the sensorium to an expanded experience of the absolute present where bodies and things intermingle in a porous encounter of more-than-human eroticism. She works across choreography. installation, performance, film and writing to discover methods of sense-making as visceral and participatory rituals. Dominique is a research candidate in the Art Department at Goldsmiths University.Recent exhibitions and presentations: Chisenhale Dance Space (upcoming 09/2019); Tai Kwun Cultural Centre, Hong Kong;The Gallery, MARs Centre, Goldsmiths University; Tate Exchange.

www.dominiquebb.com

Photo credit: Still from ‘So Tired, the Sea …’ by Prof. Astrida Neimanis (made in collaboration with Dominique Baron-Bonarjee, Prof. Adriana Verges, and Siouxzi Connor). #bodiesofwater #liquidbodyworlds #wobbledynamics #exhausted #oceanicfeeling #hydrofeminism

State of excitement: research on the numinous experience | Dimitri v/d Wittenboer

31 oktober – 28 november 2019

Presentation | 28 november during the event: The Handshake

more info about this event on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/events/595704267837355/

About Dimitri van den Wittenboer:

Dimitri’s background is in fine arts focusing on the exploration of the participatory aspects of performance art. In his collaborative artistic practice, he is curious about the potential of human interactions while critically questioning the current forms of social encounters in our society. For previous projects Dimitri has researched the history of western ritual traditions while relating them to the phenomenon of participation in fine arts performances and theatre practices. Recently his work has turned towards the public space and engages with the performativity of social interactions that can be found within urban environments.

“Participation asks for the commitment of the audience: to put a part of themselves into the encounter. I believe that participation can make art less consumable and more social through creating collective actions.” 

dimitrivandenwittenboer.com


“I am interested in the religious experience. There are many ways how one can generate this state in different traditions, reaching from the unifying rituals of the tribal cultures, meditation or the practices of solitude in the protestant Christianity. This topic is covered in studies of anthropology, religion studies and theology.

“Anthropologists see religion as the construction force of society. Roy Rappaport describes religion as composed of two interrelated elements of the Sacred and the Numinous. The Sacred is a function of discourse, and the Ritual the event in which it is realised. The Sacred is what we know as institutionalised Religion with all its forms of practices. The Numinous, on the other hand, is an individual experience, an incomprehensible non-discursive element of Religion.

“Otto Rudolf in his essay Das Heilige (the Holy) makes a deep analysis of the Numinous from a theologian and psychological perspective. He describes it as something which can not be expressed but only can be talked about using analogies of emotional states which are common to us. He talks about the feeling of Fear, Grace, Dependence and Ecstasy as the emotions which come close to the Numinous.

“In this project, I am interested in exploring the ecstatic state. I am looking for ways how this state of euphoric excitement can be generated in a group of performers and then be transcended to the audience. To generate this state I would like to use techniques of breathing, sounding and movement.

Breath

“Breathing is a powerful instrument which can be used to influence the psychic states. In moments of fear, excitement or aggression our breath changes drastically. I am interested in using the variations in breath to generate the state of high excitement. In the performative research, I am planning to try different breath techniques inspired by dynamic meditation (Osho), shamanic practices, pranayama and holotropic breathwork. I have experience in these fields and would like to see how this techniques can be abstracted from the mentioned context and be possibly used to generate excitement.

Sound

“The voice is another interesting instrument which I am interested in. Similar to breath the voice is used in various traditions to generate certain states or to create unity among a group of participants. In the chakra sound meditation, vocals are sang separately related to the chakras to trigger a certain effect. In ritualistic practices, shouts or songs are performed to create a unifying experience. Further various humming and chanting techniques are worked with in eastern traditions to elevate the state of mind. Also in this context, I would like to try to find the core elements of these techniques and see how it can be used in my work.

Movement

“Finally movement. Dancing, shaking and various forms of rhythmic movement are used similarly as the voice and breath. In the Kundalini mediation shaking is an important element to generate energy in the body which is then further directed. Further movements from dance, shamanic practices and hatha yoga will be a starting point.

“If one takes a look at the history of avant-garde theatre then probably Jerzy Grotowski is the one who deepened the exploration of the religious state the most. In the tradition of Antonin Artaud, he was trying to elaborate on how the actor can reach a primordial state through physical action. Grotowski was aware that in our fragmented society the unifying experience of the ritual is not possible. But he believed that if the actor touches this primordial energy of the human being the audience through mere watching of it will be able to connect to it as well. However, Grotowski stopped the Theatre of Production after a few performances and focused his work more on research and the work with the actor. He saw theatre as a vehicle for the actor to reach a higher state of being.

“I think that he gave up the exploration of the possibilities to transcend the religious state to the audience a little early. As Rappaport states it, Ritual is important as it allows the audience to get in a transcendent state without an extended preparation or training. All these elements are included in the structure of the ritual. Ritual, therefore, makes these states accessible to ordinary people.

“With regard to this, I will look for a way of incorporating the explored techniques into a performance and look for ways to engage the audience. It is important for me to fuse these abstract techniques with motives of daily life and to make them, therefore, more accessible to the contemporary audience. The question is, what is the foundation fo ritualistic actions and how can it be translated into the language of contemporary western society? This is a very important point for me because I think that the mere presentation of something from a distant culture or time or just something completely detached from the profane reality, can not create the necessary relation to the audience. As a result, the audience becomes even more distant observing it as an object of entertainment instead of being drawn into it.

“I am aware that it would be easier to achieve these states in the audience by making them do a certain action. However, I think that the distance with which the people prefer to approach an artwork not necessary must be challenged through a forceful call for participation. I would like to look for a more authentic way to create a relation to the work and make the audience part of it.”

POINT OF ASSEMBLAGE

The residency at Danslab/CLOUD is focused this time on deepening the emerging solo work and on meeting up with two artists Roberta has been working since 2014 – Eli Dijkers/photography (www.elidijkers.nl) and Amund Roe/music composition – and spending studio time to begin making a solid base for the piece POINT OF ASSEMBLAGE which will have its premiere in May 2020 in Slovakia. Project POINT OF ASSEMBLAGE involves also other artists: for light design Pavla Beranová (www.pavlaberanova.com), for doublebass music Romana Uhlíková. The piece POINT OF ASSEMBLAGE has its common ground in the art of instant composition, while the imagery is getting step by step clearly articulated through the works of the involved artists. An important aspect of this work is the co-habitation of the media of sound/music, movement/dance and light design/scenography, so that a desired quality of “being” is reached in the natural creation process.    

The work on Roberta´s solo INFINITE LABIRYNTH is focused on exploring the levels of underneath (the ground), on (the ground) and above (beyond). She is interested in physically touching upon the ´two inner voices´, through the actual dancing she is getting familiar with them, understands their nature and lets the emerging piece be informed by that. The front and the back of the body has been anatomically essential for this theme. 

The work on both projects is supported by Slovak Arts Council.  

Roberta Legros Štěpánková
www.robertastepankova.com

performer, choreographer, body oriented psychotherapist

In her performative, pedagogic and therapeutic work, moving body is an essential source of information and meaning. Attention to it provides richness to our being at any moment, it gives volume to our imagination. When teaching, she aims at sensitizing both the perceptive and expressive pathways in making dance. The deep trust in the emergent movement has a crucial role within both the artistic and introspective work she proposes.

Roberta has studied, lived and created in Spain and The Netherlands. Now she is based in Brno, Czech Republic. She works as a performer, dance teacher and a body oriented psychotherapist. Her dance training is based in improvisation technique and Skinner Releasing technique. She believes in the full potential of our selves we can reach by involving the body awareness in our work, creation and life. Within her creation, Roberta makes solo pieces, initiates international interdisciplinary arts collaborations. Amongst the last collaborations, there has been FROM BEHIND HORIZONS, INDIGO with Gianna Gruenig (2019), RIEKA POD RIEKOU with Romana Uhlíková (2018), NA BREHU, JANUS with Ivan Palacký (2018), SNENIE KAMEŇA (2017), THE CROSSROADS with Amund Roe (2016).

In 2017, she co-founded ORBITA, the platform for the development, creation and research of dance and physical arts in Brno.  

CREATIVE HUB EXCHANGE AT CLOUD

Friday 27 September at 19:00 at CLOUD/danslab

With the 2nd HUBS IMMERSIVE Festival coming up on 8 and 9 November in The Hague, we organise a number of Creative HUBS Exchanges in co-operation with our program partners.

This time Hilde Tuinstra invites you to contribute to her project Safe Zone – A resilience course. In a poetic musical experience, Safe Zone examines the security industry and how we can defend ourselves against collective fear. With her new interdisciplinary theatre group Shift Happens, Hilde Tuinstra creates site-specific theatre productions, bringing to life possible future scenarios and showing shifts in society with and through technological developments.

You are warmly invited! Please let us know in advance you will attend by sending an e-mail, mentioning your name and the number of people you will bring, to [hubs.immersive@gmail.com].