PROGRAMME
An experiment to investigate the relationship between improvised dance, performance and shamanism. Exercises and experiences in presence, transformation, breath, altered states of being, trance, awareness, healing, ritual, and performance. Fake healing and pretended rituals will be used to provoke real experiences beyond our naming and knowing.
I have been studying ritual, both ancient and contemporary, for over 20 years. I recognise the many continuations and disruptions between religious practice and the Western concert stage. Shamanism, in a general usage, refers to the ritual/spiritual practices of working with unseen forces of energy, of transforming space and time, of shifting meaning and perspective, of communicating with the dead or not human. Performance often engages the same intentions.
Each day we will, in action and conversation, question the potential of energy, ritual and magic. What is it? How do we experience it? Can it be choreographed? What can we learn about presence through improvisation? What is magic? What is the role of presence in making magic, provoking transformation, or sensing the other worlds?
Keith Hennessy