Andrea Božić

Andrea Božić is the first to be invited as artist in residence to the International Choreographic Arts Centre (ICK). For its artistic directors Emio Greco and Pieter C. Scholten, the motivation for their choice lies in a “strong artistic connection paired with mutual curiosity and empathy”. Greco and Scholten first met Božić in 2005 when she was a participant in an Emio Greco | PC-conducted Gasthuissessie on Dante’s Inferno. They have since followed her development into a mature theatre maker closely and are particularly taken with the way she involves new media in her work, blurring the boundaries of film, video and choreography.

Since the start of her residency in October 2009 Božić worked, among other things, on a cover of Yvonne Rainer’s Trio A; made a sketch at the request of ICK, called Double Points: Paradiso and presented her piece Beginning at the ICK Event in December 2010. Her latest production Mars Landing premièred in Frascati, Amsterdam on 11 September. In January 2012 her new production will prèmiere, for which she will work with the complete dancers ensemble of Emio Greco | PC. An interview with Andrea Božić (winter 2010):
 
To what extent is working within the Guest Artists pillar different from working within a workshop structure – do you really feel that you can research/experiment with longer breath and with less pressure?
In these past months, I feel I have only just started feeling what Emio Greco | PC and ICK are and getting to know the people and the activities. I have also been busy with several of my productions that were already partly or fully defined together with other co-producers/clients prior to the residency plans. So in fact, it has been a very busy period for me, production-wise. However, I started various dialogues with the team of ICK and I am hoping to develop these strands with more space for research on different levels in future.

Something that did happen for the first time in my life, was the assignment to do a sketch for Double Points: Paradiso. I would normally never think I could come up with something presentable in two weeks. This was a very interesting and challenging invitation and the result for me was very surprising and new for my own practice. I am interested in these types of dialogue situations also for the future.
 
The idea of the residency is that the invited artist is involved in all the different pillars of ICK – is that already bearing fruit as for your own perspective on things? For instance, how did you experience your involvement in the Inside Movement Knowledge research and what do you know of the educational activities in the Academy?
I visited the IMK lab as a guest this Spring. My visits were specifically focused on a project of documentation with the Netherlands Media Art Institute NIMK. I found it very stimulating to study and discuss their documentation proposal for Emio Greco | PC’s performance Extra Dry. Indirectly, it gave me an insight into ways of working with Emio Greco | PC, and directly, it initiated an inspired discussion on the issues of communication and transfer of knowledge, as well as documenting a working process. Things that I can immediately relate to my own work.
 

I have also had several meetings with Bertha Bermúdez over the Academy activities and I am slowly getting ideas on how to relate some of the activities already going on to my own practice. Some issues that arise are: the fact that there is already a given structure/mind of doing things at the Academy, and a very important issue for me is to be able to relate my own core to it. We are talking a lot along these lines in our preparations for the Practical Dramaturgies programme in Bassano del Grappa, where I, too, will be coaching. For me, the fact that there is already a history and structure of doing things in the house is both a challenge and an interesting departure point.
 
How important is it for you to be able to create in the proximity of other artists – Pieter/Emio, but other ICK artists and artists en passant, too? 
So far, I find this the most interesting model of artistic exchange: working on something in a modus of parallel activities with open doors. The IMK lab was also structured like that, and it seemed to be working very well. I am hoping we can manage to find a way to synchronize our schedules so these visits can happen more intensely.
 
You’ve now worked with dancers of Emio Greco | PC in two projects. Has that produced (extra) value for you, has it added something to the work, your working method? As Emio | Pieter first want to strip the bodies of their dancers of all kinds of influences – to create a tabula rasa, as it were – so you, too, are now involved with bodies/minds with a very specific focus, and you let them do something quite different from what they’re used to. 
It has been great working with Neda and Dereck. And indeed, the fact that they are working with Emio Greco | PC and that this is visible in the body, has been a challenge for me. On the one hand, it is great to work with the energy they bring with them, on the other hand, my approach to performativity and the state of the body is quite the opposite from that of Emio Greco | PC and is indispensable to the work I am doing. This becomes most visible when Neda and Dereck need to quickly shift from one approach to the other when they are rehearsing with me and touring with Emio Greco | PC during the same period. I would like to do a kind of lab with all the dancers of ICK in the near future, in which we would work on the physicality and the ways of being present on stage that comes with the kind of work I am doing.