The Dancing Public – by Mette Ingvartsen

Ecstatic dance mania by star choreographer

TIME: 29, 30 Aug. & 1, 2 Sept. 21.00
MEETING PLACE: Refshaleøen, in front of Refshalevej 173A, Cph. K
WHAT: Dance
DURATION: 70 min.

 

The busy star choreographer Mette Ingvartsen invites you to a manic dance marathon. An ecstatic, life-giving gathering of people in motion, exploding the isolation of recent years. Between Refshaleøen’s rough shipyard halls, she has found a place made for secret raves. In the twilight, she sets in motion. Inciting, rhythmic, infectious…

Tonight is for dancing
Tonight, we’ll be dancing…

Mette Ingvartsen has created her very own intoxicating hybrid work. Unstoppable movements, incessant music and words shot out at high tempo. A dance party, a spoken word concert or a physical frenzy that only ends when exhaustion sets in?

It is an invitation to dance – whether you as an audience take it literally or not.

The Dancing Public is a journey into the dance manias of different times, where dance has taken over the people and the public space – manias that could last for months, where people occasionally danced themselves to death. With her movements and her voice, Mette Ingvartsen reaches back to the inexplicable dancing crowds of the Middle Ages, the dance marathons of the Great Depression to the unauthorized rave parties of the 90s.

What is the explanation for people throughout the ages defying law and order and gathering to dance? Is it the body that dances to free itself from the stress of epidemics, natural disasters, poverty and crises? The Black Death, the economic crash of the 30s, the rebellion against the authorities in the 90s? Is it demonic possession? Is it temporary insanity?

For Mette Ingvartsen, it is time for us to gather again in ecstatic, uncontrolled communities, where we let ourselves be infected by the dance and the energy. A community without fear, where we gather around dance as a healing, liberating force. The question is, are we ready to be high on life again?

The sky will dance
The moon will dance
The planets will dance
The stars will dance…

ABOUT THE ARTIST

The Danish star choreographer and dancer Mette Ingvartsen has since her education from P.A.R.T.S. in Brussels created an impressive international career that has brought her to stages and festivals all over the world. She is extremely in demand and only rarely in Denmark – although most recently in the spring, when you might have seen two of her performances organized by Dansehallerne and Republique?

Her style and scenic language are unique – naked, liberating and always with a twist of humour. She works hybridly by combining dance and movement with visual art, technology, language and science. Through her works, she investigates current themes such as the relationship between the human and the non-human and the body as a political battlefield.

In addition to creating and performing her own works, she is also a committed teacher and shares her research with students at art schools and universities.

www.metteingvartsen.net

 

 

Photo: Marc Domage (top photo) / Marine Gastineau