Search for new aesthetic dance forms for the blind, visually impaired and the sighted.
The eyes are the windows to your soul.
William Shakespeare
Marina Abramovic
Marina Abramovic
The image of the weeping Abramovic is burned into the retina of every art historian. Her beautiful performance at the MoMa attracted a lot of people. Her artistic idea was very simple and an absolute art with a capital K.
What happened:
“The eyes are the windows to your soul.” – William Shakespeare
She sits at a table, from which, each time directly in front of her, people were randomly given the opportunity to look deeply into her eyes, while there is no talking, no touching, and no movement in the broad sense. The focus is only looking at one another.
Looking at the discovery of the person, the eyes, the soul, the human behind…
Scientific research has shown that couples in love make eye contact much more often than people who are not in love. Everyone knows that.
Laugh, be angry, be in love, be disappointed, be excited, be unhappy.
Eyes are powerful tools for expressing emotion.
Stare just a little longer, slide the eyes away, /(or take your eyes off) raise the eyes.
As an actor, you can make the face dance.
When Abramovic burst into tears at the sight of her former partner, that image was an extraordinarily beautiful artistic performance for the art lover.
But what happens when this important sensation disappears?
I would be lying if I could agree with the idea that there are similar replacements.
I’d be lying if I didn’t doubt the idea of equivalent substitutes.
And that’s what this site is about: “The search for similar replacements, possibly equivalent replacements within the dance sport”
Imagine a ballet performance on a night out at the theater. You step into a beautiful building with a romantic setting (lighting, beautiful statues, wood carvings, warm tones, and beautifully dressed people with a view of an impressive stage, sets, dancers …)
No matter how hard I try to imagine things, I can’t shake the idea that the blind and partially sighted will not /( May never) experience the same pleasant sensation as a sighted visitor. The question must be put to them, but in my opinion, be judged critically from the point of view of the art scene.
What I think is most possible, evoke the feeling and focus on for example sliding legs over the wooden floor, intercalated dance breaks, audible jumps…. but whether that really gives a valuable aesthetic pleasure, I have very serious reservations about that. I could be completely wrong and I want to see that disproved, judge, let the world judge, by digging deep in the dark.
Visual impairment
In all descriptions of people who are blind or visually impaired, the term “visual impairment” is used and I conclude from that: the word “disability” remains and is engraved on the retina.
Should there be a replacement word? Can’t it be named?
No, I think it can continue to be used, to “demonstrate” when we name, tackle, and shape the problem into an autonomous aesthetic.
Disability is not a problem in need of correction but a positive resource, especially as it pertains to aesthetics“
Alex S. Porco
“The social limitation” has been established and now it is our absolute task, sighted and non-sighted, to find out what about “the aesthetic limitation”. Is it there? Or not at all?
In that regard, we need to look for
1. what falls away?
2. what can be improved simultaneously?
3. which is stronger?
In my opinion, these are the dance-technical questions we should ask ourselves.
And that is why the name “Dance-orientation” was chosen.
Cultural criticism within for the sighted and visually impaired within the dancesport:
“How are we going to orientate ourselves towards the question of whether there is an aesthetic limitation?”
In that respect, I propose a four-part work to all dancers:
1. Orientation of the blind and partially sighted in relation to the classical basic dance techniques formed within a visual framework (included)
2. Orientation of the blind and partially sighted in relation to new basic dance techniques within a kinetic framework (exclusive)
3. Orientation of the sighted relative to the classical basic techniques within a visual framework (inclusive)
4. Orientation of the sighted to the new basic dance techniques in a kinetic framework (inclusive) With the latter the task of stepping the sighted dance lover into the world of the non-seeing dancer.
I like to refer to the annex in the findings of Piet Devos (art researcher) and Saïd Gharbi (dancer and performer), both blind.
Conclusion of this introduction:
We have to ask ourselves whether multisensory knowledge can express and develop new aesthetic dance forms in the blind and visually impaired compared to the existing visual dance aesthetics and dance techniques for the sighted.
In my absolute opinion, as a composition of e.g. a noble perfume, we should conduct research into dance forms and dance orientation for the blind and visually impaired with top-level substitute aesthetic value.