stories about dancing together (2018-2020)

this series began during my master’s studies in berlin, during the research semester before our final performance thesis. i was trying to research the transformative power of people dancing together. my theory was simple: if apartheid (apartness) is a kind of state-social-choreography that has been trained-ingrained in my body, then perhaps the most efficient way to re-train-dis-ingrain the embodied vocabulary of apartness would be through dancing/moving in unison with others. that’s how i pitched it to my teachers. there were, however, many flaws with my research methodologies.

unfortunately at the time, i was experiencing a serious clinical depression and could not function very well. the research became a project of forcing myself to dance with people, as an attempt to draw myself out of my depression and feel some sort of connection or joy – it didn’t work. in the end, i almost failed and i was still depressed. i have since learnt the difference between clinical depression (an illness that requires professional help) and bouts of sorrow and emotion that artistic practice can help one move through/make sense of. 

but i did enjoy the quick-typewriter-zine method, and the practice of typing up a story about my experience of dancing together.