ZOE BALASCH
CRA’P Residencies 2023
15 December at 19:30
CRA’P space
An interdisciplinary investigation based on the choreomania: the bodies, the light, the sound and the states of transit. The possibility of re-signifying the choric corporality and the disorderly movements that merge. To mutate also the perspective of what we consider normal/abnormal, beauty and taboo from a critical and poetic perspective.
The imaginary as knowledge and substance connecting realities that reveal new aesthetics and narratives in the languages of the body and the dance.
The project is based on an investigation of the genealogy of the concept of choreomania (choreo: dance / mania: madness), exploring the phenomenon of dance epidemics in various countries, bodies and cultures.
The notion of “normality” is a social and cultural construct that has stigmatised minority groups throughout history. Medical and religious discourse has influenced this stigmatisation, which is linked to power relations and the control of bodies. A discourse that has established norms, and set aside certain behaviours considered as “deviance”, “pathology” or “madness”. Certain ways of dancing, forms of gestures and styles of movement have been described in terms of choreomania, dance madness, as a dance disease, contagious on an epidemic level.
Presentation of the research process.
Free admission. Limited capacity.
Zoe Balasch participates in scenic and collaborative contexts where body, dance and performance art are the backbone to create new narratives around issues that concern her. Her creations include solo and group performances with versatile projects that lean towards “site-specific” creation rather indoor/outdoor and in rural/urban environments resulting in dance/performance pieces, choreographies in the landscape, participatory actions and performative walks with a singular language that fluctuates through a wide spectrum of creative forms.
She continually formulates and questions the language of dance, movement and bodies and their exhibition contexts, presenting her works at national and international festivals, art galleries, centres of creation and universities in Catalonia, Spain, Cyprus, Slovakia, Thailand, Denmark, France, Portugal and Germany.
