"The work is concerned with the process of exaggerating the history and the need of creating great values in the past. It's about how the institutions can transform something scandalous at that time, in something tamed and “valuable”, while possibly disregarding equivalent attitudes and works in the present. Sanda Agalides, the former wife of Stere Popescu, said that this remake was done “in the spirit of Stere” by managing to scandalize a good part of Romanian dance community who expected a formal and reverential reenactment of the piece. In a way this is a modern gesture towards a modern work. A reenactment of the performativity of the Hammer, not of its content." Stere Popescu
ROMANIAN DANCE HISTORY
The Hammer without a Master
"The work is concerned with the process of exaggerating the history and the need of creating great values in the past. It's about how the institutions can transform something scandalous at that time, in something tamed and “valuable”, while possibly disregarding equivalent attitudes and works in the present. Sanda Agalides, the former wife of Stere Popescu, said that this remake was done “in the spirit of Stere” by managing to scandalize a good part of Romanian dance community who expected a formal and reverential reenactment of the piece. In a way this is a modern gesture towards a modern work. A reenactment of the performativity of the Hammer, not of its content." Stere Popescu
Romanian Dance History V: acceptance speech
Romanian Dance History II in Oslo
RDH and the IMPULS Scandal
Do not disturb!
Or: The limits of spontaneity
29 July 2010, 6:45 p.m.
Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker’s piece En Atendant
Vienna – It was a moment with great potential. The audience was about to leave after the final applause for the premiere of Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker’s new piece En Atendant when two men came on stage and asked for the audience’s attention.
The two men were no less than Florin Flueras and Manuel Pelmus from Romania, leading figures on the Bucharest dance scene, known for its actionist works and political attitude. They have given a number of performances in Vienna as guests of Tanzquartier Wien and also at prestigious festivals across Europe: Many view Romanian choreography as the avant-garde of Eastern European contemporary dance.
Flueras and Pelmus asked the audience for three minutes to perform the Romanian Dance History. It appeared to be an intervention that had not been pre-arranged with the organisers. The organisers didn’t seem taken by this idea and the two were silenced like troublemakers. It’s a pity that these known artists weren’t able to attract the attention of the audience after the performance – after all, they had waited respectfully until the end of the show.
It seems unlikely that De Keersmaeker would have been against this action, even more so since in her school, P.A.R.T.S., young artists are trained to be freethinkers and not indifferent floor gymnasts. Parts of the audience would surely have stayed and listened to them, too.
The rejection of this request that had been presented in a most peaceful manner illustrates a phenomenon that is not only apparent in contemporary dance. Today, artistic works that are produced and presented on the international market are slick and predictable. The market obviously has no interest whatsoever in productive disruptions, or in the rebellious and unpredictable. However, the Vienna international dance festival Impulstanz is not known for showcasing shallow entertainment. Throughout its history, the audiences at this festival have been confronted with uneasy statements, be it by celebrities like Jan Fabre or by underdogs like Ann Liv Young.
Discursive bonus track
The intervention by the Romanians could have provided the audience with a discursive bonus track. It would have added a somewhat rough Eastern European edge to the perfectionist subtlety of the Western European choreographer’s piece. Perhaps it could have been an ideal complement to De Keersmaeker’s work, which is far too greatly influenced by the sound structures of ars subtilior, a rather formalistic music phenomenon that was common between 1377 and 1420.
The dancers’ movements are too well-formed and perfect, and the presentation of the three-aisled space of the former corn exchange as a dramatic, sacred room is just a step too far. And the way that the period of disaster during the Hundred Years’ War – a time marked by pain, violence, plague and the Inquisition – is now presented as a state of morbid twilight is too pretentious. The vain, strangely snorting Adonis-like figures and athletic, graceful characters build quite a contrast to the straightforward concept of the body in the Middle Ages, as illustrated in book paintings from that time. In this piece, which starts with a stunning C flute solo, De Keersmaeker simply failed to find the substance for a successful dramaturgy.
(Helmut Ploebst / DER STANDARD, print edition, 30.07.2010)
(English translation: Mandana Taban)
The Romanian Dance History haunts the Official Art
Romanian Dance History curates Swedish Dance History
Romanian Dance History goes (even further) north
photos by stephen
Tonight Romanian Dance History appeared after the performance of Benoit Lachambre at Oktober Dans festival in Bergen:
A man, dressed in a romanian, traditional, embroidered shirt, entered the stage after the applause and announced that he is Romanian Dance History, and that what was happening was a postspectacle. Nobody from the audience got up or left. He then proceeded to perform the melting ice-cream from The Hammer Without A Master by Stere Popescu. He explained that the rest of the performance was going to be more cryptic as it was choreographed during a time of censorship, and that the audience would have to read between the lines of the movement for meaning. He then enacted the rest of the known choreography before exiting the stage. The audience applauded Romanian Dance History generously!
I'm the romanian dance history and I'm a terrorist
So when you are ready, go on stage and say I’m the Romanian Dance History and I want to start a revolution tonight, and do it…