PROJECT

Shapes of States traces the historical and political writing of the body by looking at three contemporary developments of the early 20th century: Taylorism in the USA, Meyerhold’s Biomechanics in Russia and the development of ‘People’s health’ (Folkhälsan) in Sweden. These three historical phenomena, contemporary in time but different in focus, geography and scope, share a conception of the body as the blueprint for a healthy society. The positive ideals of a healthy body, a productive, effective and rational body, was purported through social engineering and control. Seeing the body as malleable material, which are the means through which we sculpt it? And what is the daily shaping of the body doing to the way we shape society?

In a kind of contemporary mime the dancers in Shapes of States use sculptural forms to talk about the sculpting of the body. The performance will be sight interpreted, offering an additional perspective on how we can look at the shape and content of dance. If you don’t know what sight interpretation is, google it.

Première: 30 March 2016 – MDT (Stockholm)