Blasphemy Rhapsody
2021
The movement of certainties
Like a virus needs a body
As soft tissue feeds on blood
Someday I'll find you, the urge is here
(Bjork - Like a virus)
The South Italian dance Pizzica, originally a wild dance to expel the deadly poison of a spider bite from the body, became the remedy against depression in times of poverty. The swinging Charleston arose during the interwar period as a reaction to the strict pre-war labels and marked the liberation from the constant fear of death caused by the First World War. Blasphemy Rhapsody arose during the corona crisis.
The way we dance can never be completely separated from the way we live together. This is how dance and society intertwine. Or even better, the power of dance works as a motor of change. What can we do to curb transience? Touch the divine or devour the earthly, keep your distance or hug each other to death?
The silence before the storm. We spread our wings. The pop song Around the world by Daftpunk sounds out of the boxes. The first gust of wind sets us in motion. We are pulled upwards but our feet remain firmly anchored in the ground. Blasphemy Rhapsody emerges as a danced ritual in which certainties are sacrificed. A call to embrace the mobility of life. A ceremony in which the down to earth reality nestles itself in holiness.
Like cursing in church, Blasphemy Rhapsody arose, from a pressing need for progress and appropriate distancing. The dancers worked, not in a studio but in their ‘holy’ home space, on solos based on the swaying structured footwork of the Charleston and the ecstatic dance of the southern Italian dance the Pizzica. Connecting with Emio Greco | Pieter C. Scholten online, they toiled their way ruthlessly, along benches and under tables, using the power of dance to take the measure of the walls and push their limits.
Together with the performance Disappearance and Shameless, Blasphemy Rhapsody heralds the start of a new period in which Greco and Scholten surrender to the rücksichtslos (ruthless) idealism with the mobility of life as the overarching motif.
photo © Alwin Poiana
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