mutual agreement
dance performance by Eva O & ÎŁofia
From what is available, we are making choices. From what is not available, we are making fantasies. This performance is not about; this performance is because we happen to be in the same place at the same time. This dance is an experience. The seasons change. We have agreed on the title. For now. Îœutual Αg reement d ance per f o r m an ce by Eva O & ÎŁ o fia
Eva Î&#x;. and ÎŁofia like making dances together
Eva O. grew up in a small town in Estonia, attending its local dance studio. She’s lived in London since 2012, but sometimes still feels the northern winter in her body or hears the forests calling. As a dancer she’s now focussed on contemporary dance, performance and mindful movement practices. Fascinated with the idea of change, she likes to tailor her performances for each event and always save space for improvisation. In recent years her journey in dance has asked for several breaks to make sure she finds her own pace and possibilities, as she’s been accompanied by back pains. Her plan for the future is to study dance therapy.
Σofia is a dance artist based in east London. She mostly makes dances to understand life -sometimes just to enjoy it. For the past 24 years, 1 month and few days she has been investigating ways to be in the world as a human, as a body, as a dance. Her works always derive from physicality and are often focused on kinaesthetic empathy. She aims to get bodies into dialogue. She likes bodies. She also likes games, riddles, jokes and speaking into a microphone. Sometimes she likes to sing. She always likes to dance.
let the
show begin
WELCOME Every Body
To our spiracular SOLO show Loosen up and stay convertible because TONIGHT
we've found the present of a once-in-a-life-time experience Ploy/crafter/sparrow/chill/thunder/confinement/alignment It’s all in the pot and AVAILABLE for all of YOUS We’ve had dancing & juggling Bedazzling balancing acts
& Dangerous costume changes We are Strange creatures in Familiar doings & Familiar creatures in Strange doings
TWO BODIES MOVING AS ONE IN AN EARTHQUAKE OF HISTORICAL ACCURACY
WARNING! You are obliged to return to your own reality upon the end of this performance So my lovelies, Open your
eyes&ears&hearts&minds&arms&legs&toes&wings &
Immerse yourselves into this fleeting
WITNESS ENGAGE. DIVE
FANTABULOUSNESS
the ambiguous passing of the seasons
In aimless spinning
in the world of your imagination
...in other words
Keep the show WITHIN
autumn google it: glass water
spring google it: a seed
winter google it: a popcorn
summer google it: led lamp
fantasies
Hold your breath, make a wish, count to three, come with me and you'll be in a world of pure imagination. Take a look and you'll see into your imagination. We'll begin with a spin. Travelling in the world of my creation. What we'll see will defy explanation. If you want to view paradise, simply look around and view it. Anything you want to, do it. Wanna change the world? There's nothing to it. There is no life, I know, to compare with pure imagination. Living there, you'll be free, if you truly wish to be. Willie Wonka
4 Irrelevant/Relevant lists for the making of Mutual Agreement Joy, laughter, sorrow, thrill, melancholy, excitement, pain, empathy, despair, hopelessness, delight, confusion, resignation, hope, expectation, refreshment, symbiosis, kinaesthesia, transformation, sympraxis, wholeness, emptiness, enthusiasm Grace, beauty, transformation, extension, artistry, plasticity, strength, symmetry, biotensegrity, fractals, determination, accents, punctuation, precision, indirectness Movement, dance, swaying, turning, guitar solo, synthesiser, stillness, laziness, shaking, bouncing, boobs, muscles, bums, bodies, flying, teleporting Fairy tales, myths, legends, memories, tarkowski, memoirs, poems, podcasts, fantasies, novels, dragons, epic tales, cosmologies, origin stories, soap opera, ballet, gossip, rumours
-and then we stopped writing to listen to Rumours by Fleetwood Mac
Choreographers’ Note (s) Mutual Agreement started with an overwhelming feeling of unlimited space and time. I remember the feeling of being lost in possibilities, dreams and ideas -a solo show, a whole gallery space available for us to do anything. How do you deal with anything? With time, that haunting anything was filled with fantasies, games, jokes, memories, possibilities and impossibilities, images, sounds and quriosities. Suddenly, we weren’t scared anymore. And when we looked back, we saw a reflection of us; of our own little world; of life as we see it. How did we deal with anything? We used dance to turn it into everything. Having patience and trusting the work to reveal itself is the greatest gift Mutual Agreement has given us.
On choreographing a dress by Eva O. „Letting her speak through my body and bringing life to the world through her eyes demanded of me to let go of all my desires and expectations for my own dance. -how brilliant is that!“ Σofia
Choreographing a solo for Sofia was scary, but I kept thinking that if She trusts me, I must trust myself. The dress-dance is my way of playing with the dancer-choreographer relationship and the question of what does it mean to be a mover? Bring your attention to your skin level. Be aware of the feelings of your clothes touching your skin. What areas are covered and how do they feel different of the skin that is bare? Perhaps it is the exposure to air that distincts these feelings. Let these thoughts lead you to find an internal gaze. You can see the people, the space, but your focus in within your body, your dance.
Choreographers’ Note (s) Think of your dress. Its colour. Its shape. What can the fabric do? Imagine it folding, wrapping, flying.. How does the garment catch air? How does it land on the floor? Think of how it could move? What would happen when you move? As you start the choreography of your legs, you become the facilitator of the dress dance. „It looks more interesting, than it feels you said“. But it’s not about you just yet. Your feet come out from hiding. The music starts and more choreography unfolds. The dress dance starts gradually blending with your dance. Your
eyes shift from the slightly internal gaze, to more external. Are you the mover or are you being moved? Your hands embellish the dress dance. The sequence is letting movement to you back, to the hips, to shoulders. As the set choreography ends, come back to what you imagined at the beginning, about your dress and the fabric. Starting from the legs again, let the dress take you for a journey. This time it’s free. Are you the mover or are you being moved?
On details By Σofia
There’s a great deal of intimacy, I think, in a dance of only details. There is an urgency, an importance fallen upon the tiniest of movement because if you miss the tiny, you miss a whole world. Shape and form take another dimension . In details there is a new universe of possibilities to be discovered.
Choreographers’ Note (s)
How do you tap? Which tap makes for a turn? How small is tiny? How bis is small? Where does it fall? How do I breathe? Where do I look? How big do my pupils get? She said to me in despair: “There’s too many body parts!”. She’s right. And the closer you look, the more you discover.
Hey you. This is standing. This is, also, breathing. Follow your breath into a swaying motion Notice how your weight moves from one leg To the other -think of it as a big bucket of sand From left to right To left to right‌
you’re gradually pouring
Let that motion evolve -and in the meantime Bring your attention to your surroundings Look at the space Try shifting your gaze from hard to soft focus Try to allow yourself the privilege of the widest view possible. Can you see more? Spot your partner ------let the sway of your pelvis take you for a ride into the space Let it grow out of a walk and into free movement This is a treat to yourself. What does your body need to do at this moment? Play with speed and force and size of movement. How much? How little? Be daring and playful. Enjoy the freedom of moving. Gather all this free movement into the bowl of your pelvis and allow the confined kinetic energy to become the source of a small pelvic earthquake.
Make sure it all begins from your pelvis while allowing it to spread and affect the whole body. Count down with me from 10 to 1 and let the earthquake escalate. 1 is your maximum.
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
And stop . You’re back to standing. Notice the earthquake that’s still alive in your body. Notice what’s left of it in the space around you. Notice your partner
Make or accept an offering of contact Give yourself time to enter a game of
You’re now into a duet. What is the rhythm of your dance? What is its melody? Can you agree upon an ending?
3
2
1
What’s different? What’s different? and go meet them
following Facilitating &disrupting their movement
The Steamship PS is an artist run project space, located in the disused pub ‘The Steamship’ in Poplar, East London. The resident artists work in different disciplines, such as painting, sculpture, photography, architecture, fashion design, illustration, literature, music, and performance art. The Steamship collective regularly produce exhibitions and events. Their most recent exhibition ‘100’ was their biggest group show to date, bringing together artists working in different media, from many different backgrounds. Members of the audience were invited to vote for their favourite piece. The winners of the public vote were Eva O. & Sofia, who impressed the audience with their performance piece ‘Untitled’, recreating one hundred famous work of art, were awarded the opportunity to stage a solo show at The Steamship PS. Nurturing a community of up-and-coming artists, as well as engaging the local community are important aspects of the collective’s endeavours. Rich in history and unique local heritage, the Docklands often feature as the subject of work created by the artists of The Steamship PS. Most notably, the exhibition ‘Invisible City’, inspired by Italo Calvino’s novel “Invisible Cities’, showcased works investigating the nature of the city, its infrastructure and inhabitants. In addition to art exhibitions, The Steamship PS hosts workshops, readings, performances, film screenings and jam nights. Follow The Steamship PS on: Facebook: @TheSteamshipProjectSpace Instagram: @thesteamshipps Twitter: @thesteamshipps
A piece designed and performed by Eva O. and ÎŁofia
light operation: Jelena Curcic
sound operation: Femi Oriogun- Williams, Aggie Jurochnik & Linnea Lagerqvist
special thanks to Femi Oriogun- Williams for taking care of our sound to Gabriela Zigova for the photos and posters
to Eva Papadouraki for designing the programmes
to Charlie Hubbard for building and operating our podiums
to Linnea Lagerqvist for taking care of the Steamship choir
to The Steamship crew: Johanna Trost, Anna Chiarini, Gabriela Zigova, Charlie Hubbard, Charlie Guy, Ieva Stakaite,
Jelena Curcic, Connor O’ Sullivan, Aggie Lagerqvist, Peter Sulo and Linnea Lagerqvist for their help and care
to Davy and the Troxy venue for allowing us to use the space for rehearsal
to Rye Milligan and Ryan Funnell for helping with the lights
And to our friends Joseph Campbell, Jorge Torres and Daniel Corrick for their artistic and moral support
soundtrack Recording of rehearsal process entering rehearsal 17.10.2019
The Steamship Choir singing Welcome from the film “Cabaret” arranged and redesigned by Linnea Socrates Vakirtzian, The Camel Socrates Vakirtzian, The Child
Amir Pereiman, New Song Of Jeruralem
W. A. Mozart, Lacrimosa dies illa, Requiem in D Minor Moondog, Do Your Thing
The Beatles, Here Comes The Sun (isolated vocals) CAN, She Brings The Rain
Gene Wilder, Pure Imagination
Konstandinos Bita, Morning Song Nalyssa Green, Cocktail
Hanepojad, Lumi Tuli Maha Ja Valgeks Laks Maa (Estonian children’s song)
Madonna Hung Up
Recording of Welcome with a Twist text by Σofia & Eva O.