Welcoming acts
March 2022
WELCOMING ACTS was a 30-minute dance performance about entering an unknown territory - and what happens to us at the threshold of change.
The work explored the fundamentals of building a relationship with a private space, facilitated by a host. The act of welcome is a dialog of performative gestures resulting from permutations of the repetitive act of being welcomed and getting to know new surroundings. A series of repeated gestures of the act of being welcomed and the act of using a new space are performed throughout the work. The gestures assumed a semi-spontaneous play of different approaches to humor, seriousness, friendliness, reciprocity and alienation, among others.
The piece explored rituals intended to reduce the distance between a host and a guest. We created an atmosphere, an opportunity to gather, to meet in the same time and space. Every action carried a thought and an intention. How can simple gestures be so meaningful? How do we define ourselves through welcoming actions?aimed to test and re-imagine the limits and functions of the body and deconstruct (un)conscious habits of movement.
The purpose of the work was to raise awareness of vulnerability in change and getting to know new life situations, a process that reinforces our attachment to what we know, and at the same time meets us with the vulnerable by getting to know the new, establishing. A process of becoming. It sought to touch and question the awareness of behavioral patterns and gestures that accompany processes of change and recognition in our daily lives.
WELCOMING ACTS had its premiere during SøaR Dance Festival at Kilden Teater in Kristiansand in March 2022.
Concept: Valentina Martínez Mariscal and Laura Perrot
Performers: Laura Perrot / Valentina Martínez Mariscal