Past Projects (2021-22)

Aerowaves – Springback Ringside

Nothing beats a live experience but what if something could? What if you could go to your local community centre, put on a VR headset, and experience dance as you experience dance in a theatre? Springback Ringside is testing how to present and tour a performing arts work with the aid of virtual reality and all its practical implications.

 

The geographically diverse partnership consists of Aerowaves (UK), Croatian Cultural Centre (Croatia), EN-KNAP Productions (Slovenia), Tanec Praha (Czech Republic), Institution Student Cultural Centre in Novi Sad (Serbia), Workshop Foundation (Hungary), Igor & Moreno / S’Ala Spazio (Italy). What is unique about this project is that the venues/presenters are embracing and supporting the artistic work as the artists themselves do not travel. The project also does not sacrifice the audience’s experience as the event itself is a hybrid one as a live, interactive talk with the artists is part of the presentations.

 

This project practises a new economic model according to the common conditions that have already been agreed with the dozen artists of the current Aerowaves’ catalogue. They are remunerated not only each time the VR recording is played to an audience, but also with a fee to appear live after that showing to engage in Q&A dialogue with the audience moderated by a Springback writer, who also receives a fee. While Idiot-Syncrasy is the main artistic work that is touring, partners are showcasing at least one other work from the catalogue. In doing so, the partnership hopes to be sustainable and achieve its long-term goal where the only item that needs to travel is a digital file. For now, this Perform Europe project will care for the environment and foster awareness about ecological concerns while travelling by electric vehicle, train or boat.

 

Yet the partnership does not seek to replace live experiences. Some presentations are happening in remote or marginalised communities and, by offering such experiences to people living there, Springback Ringside hopes to intrigue imaginations and push audiences towards live experiences.

Partners

Artistic Works

Idiot-Syncrasy
Producers: Igor & Moreno, Italy
Idiot-Syncrasy by Igor & Moreno (Italy) was first presented by Aerowaves in 2015. In the piece, Igor and Moreno started with wanting to change the world with a performance. They felt like idiots. Then they danced a lot. They jumped. They called on the folk traditions of Sardinia and the Basque Country. They sang. They jumped some more. They committed. Now they promise to stick together. They promise to persevere. They promise to do their best.
Babae
Producers: Joy Alpuerto Ritter, Germany
Inspired by Mary Wigman’s Witch Dance, a “masterpiece of strangeness” as Judith MacKrell put it, in Babae Joy Alpuerto Ritter examines inherited dance vocabularies to embody her own witch character. Bringing together her roots in Philippine folk and classical dance with movements from hip hop and voguing; she reimagines what it means to summon the power and mystical practices of a female dancer as a witch. BABAE, which means ‘woman’ in Tagalog (Philippine language), is a one-woman dialogue between the animalistic and sensual qualities of ritual and power.
AlSheMe
Producers: Linda Hayford – Inside Out Company, France
Two siblings play with their similarities and subtle differences, a game that reveals their unique connection. In AlShe/Me, Linda Hayford develops her research on metamorphosis and physical transformation. Focusing on the brother-sister relationship, she observes the influences on each other, through whatever they suffer, perceive or internalise. Beyond words and implicit empathy, this duet gives each performer the space to develop their own individuality. In AlShe/Me (pronounced as “alchimie” in French), Linda Hayford appears on stage alongside her older brother, Mike Hayford. Years after having given her a leg up in the world of popping, the dancer accompanies his sister in a duo that focuses on the ephemeral character of the genre.
Masterwork
Producers: Emese Cuhorka & Csaba Molnár, Hungary
In Masterwork, cultural references and whimsical movement unfold through a set of vignettes, exploring ways in which the body sheds cultural meanings and symbols projected upon it over the course of time. By using objects as costumes that block movement, the body reshapes its autonomy in a flurry of functional obstructions. Each and every body is a masterpiece in its own right, created by the self and the environment. By modifying the body, Cuhorka and Molnár manipulate the surroundings and summon the freedom to redefine.
Photo credits

Benoite Fanton

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