With the same concentration, intensity, and precision that characterise a sculptor, a dancer carves their movements out of empty space. Both try to capture life in movement en volume. One does this statically and eternally from a block of marble, the other dynamically and fleetingly on the stage. 'Stasis' is a symbiosis of these extremities. The dancer becomes a fleeting sculptor and the dance a timeless sculpture. The purity of the danced lines is identical to that of carved or sculpted lines: they all tell the story of their creator. In 'Stasis', they unite in an architectural sculpture. The spatiality of a choreography, which moves in time and space, is immortalised in a tangible image.
'Stasis' explores how the articulacy and narrative of a choreography can survive when the body-through absence, limitation, or illness-is no longer the medium. Fleeting movements are translated into tangible, spatial sculptures using motion capture and 3D technology. The result is a performative installation in which choreography and sculpture merge and dance is no longer reduced to a time-bound and physical performance.
The installation acts as a preserver of knowlegde and legacy and invites reflection on ownership, physicality, and the transferability of choreographic material.
This work is produced in collaboration with A Two Dogs Company/Kris Verdonck, Uncanny (Visual Content Creation Studio), Museum M, Cas-co and Danspunt.
©Judith Van Oeckel