VOICES Festival: TUMBLEWEED & IN DA CHAOS

Tatiana Chizhikova uses solid and condensed choreographic forms for her works, while their emotional content is rather complex and highly charged. In her new solo performance she works with a simple found object, a stick. With it she unfolds a detailed movement research on the theme of rootedness, grounding or staggering, and displacement. Tatiana Chizhikova: "I chose a dry stick that was once a branch of a tree. I am fascinated by the ability of trees to hold on and grow deep into the ground with their roots. For me, the stick is a kind of metaphor for this ability and this living root movement. But when I practiced this in the studio, the opposite thought occurred to me: the stick is dry, and it would never be filled with life again. As I moved with it, I felt its fragility, its inflexibility. Any force would break it. In our duet, it is I who am alive and clearly feel my ability to change, to feel, to see, to choose. I am the root, the one from which the shoots will grow."

In this piece, Katya Volkova dives into "house dance," a street dance style with remarkable footwork techniques. The house dance style belongs to the club culture of the 90s, but clearly has its roots in the steps and jumps of traditional African dances, in collective experiences of rhythm and the shared space of a ritual. Community is one of the central themes for Katya's artistic research. She transfers her interest in sociality and community engagement from the street dance she has long practiced to a contemporary dance context that is often skeptical of grand affirmative narratives. In her piece, she constantly balances between the routines of "real work" and the subversion of the very idea of working, between being together and yet alienated as a solo dancer. Eventually, the stage transforms into a dance floor open to all, and this transition can feel like a challenge to the audience: Should we invest our emotional and physical effort? Is it worth the work?

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Programme

tumbleweed

Choreography and performance: Tatiana Chizhikova
Music: Roman Kutnov
Duration: 30 Minutes

A sketch of the project was presented as part of the program Easy: dance in progress at the GES-2 House of Culture in May 2023.

in da chaos

Choreography and Performance: Katya Volkova
Duration: 30 Minutes

Program curator: Anastasia Proshutinskaya
Production: Site Art Projects
Supported by: AFF Projects

Performers

Tatiana Chizhikova

Tatiana Chizhikova is a dancer, choreographer and contemporary dance teacher. She graduated from the Moscow Choreographic Lyceum as a ballet dancer and from the Moscow State Academy of Choreography with a BA in Choreographic Arts (2010). Tatiana is a graduate of SOTA, a performance art training program organized by the Institute of theatre (2015). In 2020, her play "Udarnitsa / the Striker" was awarded the national theatre prize Golden Mask. In 2019 she won the (8:tension) Young Choreographers' Award at ImPulsTanz - Vienna International Dance Festival with her performance "Time to Time".

Katya Volkova

Katya Volkova is an interdisciplinary artist, choreographer, and dancer. She holds an MFA degree in Sound Art and Sound Studies from HSE (Moscow). Her dance education initially took a more informal path that included street styles and contemporary dance workshops; she then graduated from SOTA (Mosсow) in 2016. In 2023, she was selected for ATLAS - an educational program for dance professionals within the ImPulsTanz Festival (Vienna). Since 2016 Katya has been working both independently and in various collaborations. Her performances have been presented at Kleine Humbolt Gallery (Berlin), Faki International Festival of Performance Art (Zagreb), Darağaç Art Center (Izmir), My Wild Flag! Festival (Stockholm), Suoja/Shelter Festival (Helsinki), HELLERAU European Center for the Arts (Dresden).

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