Anna: My very first question is how are you these days? What are you doing? Where are you now? Madli: That's a very big question. Thank you for asking! I'm doing okay with ups and downs. I'm quite tired because the work has never stopped. And I've been managing, we just finished our lockdown a few weeks ago, but I was giving classes the whole lockdown. I had nine groups and I was giving online classes or outdoor classes. Now we're back in the studio and we are trying to finish up this very hectic season. We're trying to perform with some of the groups or to prepare for performances or competitions. It's all very draining, emotionally and psychologically. And also, I'm finishing up my work in the capital of Estonia and I'm trying to find new work in another town. I'm kind of in the middle of moving, in the middle of changing apartments. It's quite a lot. But it’s spring and I have my garden in my parents' summer cottage. I only think about being there to take care of my flowers and my pumpkins and not think about anything else, but the summer is very close. Anna: And what do you teach? Madli: I teach kids, young people, and adults traditional folk dance, jazz, and contemporary dance. But at the moment, I’m doing a little bit more of the contemporary and jazz because I'm not so interested in staged folk that much. I do like part-time teaching at universities in Dance or Theatre departments where I usually teach dance history or historical dance. So, I also have a little hobby group of historical dances as well. Anna: I would like to ask you about your Choreomundus experiences. I was thinking like which cohort you've been to? I can't recall now... Choreomundus has the ninth cohort now which is incredible! Madli: I think I’m cohort three! But I'm very bad with numbers… No, it must be three! (laughs) Anna: It’s been a while so… How did you find this Choreomundus program? Madli: Life-changing! (laughs) I found it life-changing and I was tremendously happy that it was so theoretical. I did not feel that I was good enough theoretically, because I find my thesis was quite weak. But I was very glad that I could touch upon those methods of analysis and also touch upon these methods of conceptualizing dance. I think it has absolutely changed the way I work! This is why I do this extra work that I can do at the moment because now I can think and conceptualize dance in a completely different way! And the people and the world that opens up through the people that are there! I'm from a very white society and a very racist society. It is uniform and there's no diversity or this is what they think. But for me, this opened up and it still keeps the word open that would never come to me through different contexts. Through social media, I really appreciate what kind of news my cohort or other people bring to my feed, what kind of visuals they bring to me, and how they present their everyday life. It's very important because I cannot get it in Estonia. Like there's no way I could get this information in my country without having these people. Anna: And what did you study before Choreomundus? Madli: I had a BA in Dance and Choreography. Then I had an MA in Cultural anthropology and Folk art, which was a weak one because I was trying to do performance anthropology there but my department didn't know what it was, they also didn't know that you could study dance. They had no idea that dance is something that you can scientifically study! (laughs) It was an arts academy. It had a fantastic focus on figurative arts and crafts, and how to use them in your artwork. I was doing my master thesis on gender roles in Estonian stage folk dance but I was very glad because I could use Erasmus. I went for a year to Ireland and it saved my first master’s. Because in Ireland, I understood how to study since I had come from a practical background, I had no study methods, I did not know how to sit down and get through subjects and write essays. Choreomundus and all other opportunities gave me another angle to study dance. It kind of showed me how much theory there is in practice. I absolutely love it. And I even use it in the class, I think I'm a different teacher now. Anna: What was your dissertation topic in Choreomundus? Madli: I was looking at the folk improvisation experience in Estonian polka and what creates this experience for the dancer. I was studying the particulars of what they experienced and how they experience the room, the floor, the communication, and what they think of it. Anna: Which university did you like the most? Or which course did you prefer during your studies at Choreomundus? Madli: I really loved the dance transmission. It was something so deep, because it also relates to pedagogy, but not only. It kind of widened the way I thought about pedagogy. Because of practice that we were doing there with my African coursemates, that transmission practice kind of changed the way I feel about teaching. I also liked dance phenomenology. It was very hard for a beginning course, but it was very necessary. I don't know if I got it, but I liked the way Gediminas (Gediminas Karoblis, local convenor from NTNU – editor) was using dance to get the point across. The way we were taught fascinated me all the time! Because they were very methodical, they have a very specific way of giving just a little information along the way. They didn't let you know where you're going to end up first. They kind of led you through this research together with them. It was intellectually mind-blowing! In Roehampton, I loved the arts courses, like the performance of heritage. I also liked the Dance Department teachers there. What I loved in Szeged was the historical dance and the folk dance. But there should have been more folk dance practice there! Anna: What did you do after Choreomundus? Madli: I came back to Estonia and I started to work in several traditional dance groups. I was back tutoring dancers at the theatre academy, so I was teaching again. Just established the monthly salary. But what I got from Choreomundus is added to my everyday work in a sense that I choreograph differently, I research for choreographies differently, I research for my work differently. I am academically more inspired and finalize my choreographies creatively. Maybe I should level up somehow, apply for a PhD but I haven't figured out my topic for PhD research yet, so until that I’m stuck here at the moment. Anna: How did the ongoing pandemic situation change your practice in dance? Madli: I rediscovered my dance practice or keeping myself in shape because covid gave me a fantastic opportunity to take classes from all over the world. I was taking classes from New York for example. I reconsidered several of my life choices, at the moment that’s why I'm moving away from the capital to be closer to my garden. I reconsidered working on weekends. (laughs) I liked the way that we had to turn the focus inwards. With most of my folk dance groups, I couldn't continue the work because we are not practicing couple dances alone but I turned it into like yoga meets pilates meets ballet class just to preserve their basic physical shape. I have an adult group where mostly married couples are dancing so they continued with folk dance. With one group, we managed to create new dances and learn new folk dances, we continued working. And somehow even through the screen they kept the social feeling! It was a lesson of the groups that they have such different energy, such different ways they function and with some groups we couldn't do anything, but with some groups, it continued as if nothing had changed, which is interesting, I think. And it made me reconsider teaching. I was so unhappy all the time with the quality of the classes. I had to reconsider what the quality of my classes was? Like are they pointless? And I had to step up, I have never done so much homework that I did now for these classes! Because originally you have your training list, then you just go with the flow, you go much freely. But now, it took hours to prepare one 45-minute class! It was really something new, but it worked! I got a lot of very good feedback. Anna: It is indeed a very challenging era of our lives but it’s good to hear success stories! My last question would be, what is your message for the readers who might be going to apply for Choreomundus as a future student? Madli: Less whining, more using the opportunities that you will get in Choreomundus! I think we should all go there with a much more open mind! Everybody had their idea of what they're going to do in Choreomundus. Everybody thinks that ‘Oh, I'm going to dance or I'm going to study or I'm going to be mentored by the best people…’ We were always very frustrated. We felt alone, we felt like not good enough, not smart enough, but to just see the opportunity! Yeah, I'm alone, I can do this personal study now. Wow, I can independently choose where I go and what I do, and to really cherish this that they are like an independent researcher. You can share this experience with these amazing people and under these amazing teachers. Anna: That's a very good message! I like it. Thank you very much, Madli!
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Our bodies have our (hi)stories inscribed within, singular and universal. We traveled far away carrying in our memories nourished by the sea, soill of fertile fields, heat of lava and the whisper of the trees, from home. We move our body cartographies from head to toes as from south to north, palms to soles feet as east and west. Our bodies are now together creating a bridge. We share our desire to exchange and dialogue with the ones here in presence. “Kroppsbroer” was the name of the event that the joint artistic team from Cohort 7 and 9 created last May in Trondheim, Norway, while Cohort 9 students Moyra Silva and Zuzana Palanova were preparing for fieldwork, and Celina Gallo from Cohort 7 was working as research assistant at the Norwegian Center for Traditional Music and Dance. The idea of organizing this event was born as a way to intertwine our dance knowledge and homeland traditions with the place that we called home, creating a bridge to encounter with the community and our surroundings permeated by the power of movement, music and the architecture of the city. Kroppsbroer was a site-specific and intercultural experience based on movement dynamics led by Choreomundus students and alumni from Peru, Slovakia, Nicaragua and China. We integrated live music, creating a fusion between rhythms from Latin America and Africa through the collaboration of our colleague Andrew Ssebulime from Uganda and local musician Julio Morales. Photography and the use of materials like fabric have been important resources to build a collective installation at the end of the event which served as a memoir for the participants. The team received funding from Trondheim’s municipality, creating a precedent for future Choreomundus students to participate in the city's cultural scene. As a result, more than 20 residents of Trondheim with diverse backgrounds and nationalities participated in this free-entry and open-air event without age restriction at the beautiful location of the Old City Bridge, one of the most iconic and particular places in Trondheim, located next to the Nidelva river. Our diverse group from France, Brasil, Norway, Germany, Bahrain, Congo and Uganda took part in four different sections, which involved a game, exploration, introspection and socializing. We have received great support from Choreomundus staff and students, as well as from every person that stopped by to observe and participate from a distance. Kroppsbroer now has been established as a permanent collaborative project between Choreomundus students and alumni, integrating Natalia Weir from Australia/Russia and student from Cohort 9 to the team with the objective to pursue new opportunities and keep creating bridges in any geographical place. Kroppsbroer team and collaborators in the picture from left to right:
Moyra Silva (PE), Sverre Veel (NO), Li Li Wen (CN), Andrew Ssebulime (UG), Zuzanna Palanová (SK), Julio Morales (GT), Gerardo de La Riva (CL), Celina Gallo (NI) Natalia Weir (AU) has collaborated as the main photographer and editor. Bianca Beneduzzi (Brazil C7) is interviewed by Olga German(Ukraine C6) Choreomundus gave me so much experience. It is like a list of challenges that you start accomplishing one after another. And then, when you look back, you are completely different from the person who started the program. You are totally different from the person who wrote that application. It is a level of transformation that is impossible to catch up with within only 2 years. And most importantly, the people I met, the connections I made are for life. Bianca Beneduzi (Brazil), Cohort 7. Bianca Beneduzi is a Brazilian actress, physical theater and modern dance artist, Choreomundus alumnus from Cohort 7. She holds a BA in Physical Theater and Modern dance (Brazil). She danced in childhood and then studied performing arts, movement technique, actor's training at college and later she went to work in a modern dance company. She sees a special strength in combining her passions as a dance practitioner and a dance researcher. In her opinion, mixing the two can help to realize her full potential and bring important change into people´s lives, especially in terms of establishing dance culture in vulnerable communities. Bianca is inquisitive and diligent in delivering the results of her work, and her motivation to join Choreomundus was clearly strong since she did the program as a self-funded student. Working and studying is clearly a roller-coaster ride to remember. With her vast experience in performing arts, Bianca was more than willing to go for the choreo-discovery. Let’s go on a sentimental journey with Bianca Beneduzi as she tells us an epic tale about her Choreomundus adventure, shall we? WHEN IT FEELS RIGHT, AND YOU CHOOSE TO GO FOR IT Bianca’s story with Choreomundus started in 2015. She found out about the program from a friend who was doing the MA at that time. She applied and was shortlisted that year but didn't enroll. She moved to the US, found a stable job, and later felt it was time to reapply. Sadly, the second time Bianca wasn't granted a scholarship, but this time she felt ready to go for it no matter what: At that time, I was naïve. I didn’t know much about scholarships and funds. The mentality I grew up with is the following: “You work hard, and you make things happen”. So I just thought: “ I have a job, I can do it!. I want to start. I don’t want to wait anymore.” It was a very decisive time in my life. Choreomundus drifted me from my path...in a good way, of course. I was going in a totally different direction. And then - Boom! My life was split into before, and after Choreomundus. I moved to Europe. It was a risky thing for me. I was completely alone at the beginning. Renting places on my own, far from home, at crazy prices for Brazilian standards. Let alone the fact I had debts of over 18 000 Eu to pay. Maybe it seemed I was completely out of my mind. But despite all of that, it FELT RIGHT. The academic value of Choreomundus is unique, but dancing and being a part of the community - inside and ouside the program - is a real treasure for Choreomundi. Each country of the Consortium gave Bianca a unique experience and lots of friends. But the fieldwork was a cherry on the cake of an upgrade as a dancer and researcher. THE PRICELESS GIFT OF GOING TO THE FIELD The anthropological aspect of the program was something completely new to me. On the other hand, now I know how to focus on research, or how to set up a dance in a politically unstable context. For my fieldwork, I did research with refugees, in Athens, Greece. So I learned how to apply anthropological techniques and tools from a workshop in an artistic context and a community, how to engage people using dance. It was a connection point between my life as a performer and an anthropologist. And I am still figuring out what that means and how to work with that. Most researchers agree that fieldwork is a jump into the unknown, no matter how much prior preparation was done. Bianca looks on the bright side, she assures it is worth the risk: Surprisingly, it wasn't difficult at all. There was a lot of laughing in the whole process, and that's why I connected with amazing people. I believe that the power of a project is in your passion and the institution supporting you. When you are within this system, it becomes something bigger if compared to cases when you are alone. And that support makes you create solid connections and better projects. LOCKDOWN AS A WAY TO MEET LONDON AT A DIFFERENT LEVEL AND FINISH THESIS LIKE A PRO Bianca and her fellows managed to have active interactions in France, Hungary, Norway, and during their fieldwork. Yet in London, in 2020…their journey took an unexpected turn. Just like it did for all of us. The pandemic took lots of lives and turned into a tragedy for people all over the world. COVID-19 hit hard when Cohort 7 was in London, at the University of Roehampton in winter 2020: Roehampton is that dream-come-true university. The lockdown was frustrating for me. It was supposed to be time full of options and opportunities…The studios… The library. And out of a sudden, everything was shut down. And we didn’t have access to anything. We hoped we could have extended access later to compensate, but that didn’t happen. Yet being optimistic when facing troubles, Bianca and Cohort 7 self-isolated wisely – thesiswise :) : We had some more time to dedicate to our dissertations. That is a good thing. We could focus. Despite all of it, we got to see London in a setting we would never have seen before the lockdown. And it was a privilege to spend it at Roehampton because we had all the campus to work. We didn't have to choose between studying and wonderful things in London. The events just weren't happening. It was a bit crazy because January and February 2020 were quite normal. I would meet my groupmates to book tickets to go somewhere in London. Together. We wanted to be everywhere all the time. Bianca sympathizes with Cohort 8 and future students who confront so many restrictions. Yet, who knows, maybe those limitations can lead to even more discoveries: I can't even imagine how it feels to do fieldwork during this pandemic. It must have been crazy. While writing my dissertation in London, I knew that Cohort 8 was doing fieldwork. And I was like: “Oh my gosh! How is that even possible?” FIELDWORK IS FIELDWORK! HOW DO YOU GO TO THE FIELD IF YOU CANNOT GO TO THE FIELD? I'm really interested in those narratives.would like to read about the experiences of the next Cohorts. The research done during the pandemic is a memento about this time. But Cohort 7 "felt the urge" to leave a creative trace of their own. It resulted in their Performing the Pandemics/Emergency Festival - an artistic response to the COVID-19 situation: their emotions, and their vision of the pandemic via movement and other media. Cohort 7 organized this event in London and later presented it at CAA Conference and Festival in September 2020. WORKING AND STUDYING. THE CHALLENGE WITH EVEN MORE PITFALLS As a self-funded student, Bianca combined working and studying during the program. It was hard because of the intensity of classes. And also because this format of attending lectures was not always favorable: I had some problems in Choreomundus because I worked. Some of the teachers were fine with it. But some of them couldn’t accept the fact that I had to work while watching the classes. So it was hard to explain why I had to combine those things. Claiming my opportunity to be in class wasn’t easy at times, but I learned lessons from that too. Bianca is proud to remember that she was a good student, regardless of everything. Assiduous in terms of meeting deadlines and submitting good essays. Professor Georgiana Wierre-Gore was always pleasantly surprised with her diligence. She managed to submit the essays on time, while students who didn’t work asked for extensions/ I just committed myself to the program with my whole heart, explains Bianca. CHOREOMUNDUS: IMPACT. GROWTH. TRANSFORMATION. Choreomundus was a big adventure. Obviously, we had many classes and a lot of assignments. It is definitely not appropriate time to relax. It’s time to study hard.It was crazy. I had a 40-hour job and had to combine it with studying... I come from a humble family, and it is common in Brazil to work and study at the same time. But Choreomundus is not an ordinary program. It is intense. So it was a huge jump. It was terrifying at the beginning, but I would do that again. It was more like: IT'S YOUR DREAM, SO GO FOR IT. And I made it bit by bit. Bianca feels that she has grown at many levels. Not only as a practitioner and researcher but as a negotiator and activist: Now I am more mature when dealing with institutions. When I was communicating with organizations before Choreomundus, an image of myself was really small. I had no idea about the ACADEMIC world and its rules. I didn't have enough strength. Choreomundus changed my perspective. Four different universities, four different methods. I practically grew up in terms of understanding how this works, how to negotiate, put myself in the face of the system, express what I need, and position myself. For me, that is really empowering. Not just studying dance subjects, but growing as a human being, a human being who is free within this system and has an understanding of the rules. If you know these things, you get that freedom. Choreomundus having your back really pushes you to go forward. Even though we were very autonomous in the programme, the support of institutions was very strong. One thing is to go as Bianca, and a totally different one - to be Bianca, a researcher from the Choreomundus program. Now Bianca Beneduzi is in her home country, Brazil. Clearly, she is happy to be home after a long time away. While facing bravely the threats the COVID-19 situation caused, Bianca is planning to get back to the UK. Seeing Bianca happy and empowered is inspiring. She is open to opportunities and more adventures. Interview with Anna Székely (C2) By Kavya Iyer (C6) & edited by María Peredo Guzmán (C4) The idea is to interview one unknown person from a Cohort other than yours. Thus you get to know each other while practising the beautiful craft of interviewing. Do you want to be part? Just contact us by e-mail Kavya: It has been a while since I did an interview. It felt so good - getting to know you and getting close to someone I have only just met! Anna is from Hungary, graduated from Choreomundus in 2015, and is currently a PhD student at the University of Szeged. She recently received a scholarship grant to go to New York to study Hungarian diaspora folk dances in the USA [which has been postponed due to the pandemic]. K: What are you doing currently? Are you working or doing research or dancing? A: I’m doing everything! (laughs) Currently I am in London, but during lockdown in 2020 I was at my parents’ house in my hometown in Hungary. I had to move back there from Szeged because of the COVID situation. I recently finished the second year of my four-year PhD studies. At the beginning of summer this year, I accomplished my comprehensive exam for the PhD and I got my required language test in Romanian for my university studies. I finished the academic year quite busy! K: That’s great! So what is your PhD research topic? A: The theme is the “Myth of Authenticity in the Hungarian Dance House Movement”. In the 70’s, a group of folk dancers from Budapest made a journey to Transylvania, and they saw an original - “authentic” - traditionally organized dance event called Dance House, literally held in a house or in a room. These urban dancers were fascinated with this experience, and they recreated the event in Budapest in 1972. It was a very big thing and became successful, and then spread all over the country. This movement was really about recreating tradition and promoting dance transmission at the dance houses, conducting folk song sessions and promoting social interaction. Since then, it is still going on. Maybe all of you went at least once to a Dance House when you were in Szeged? My main focus is on this recent phenomenon - the contemporary expression of the Dance House movement. I am looking at younger generations; my aim is also to investigate the relationship between generations and how their notion of traditional culture is shaped. What is your “before” and “after” Choreomundus story? I received my Bachelor degree from the Department of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology in the University of Szeged in 2011. And in 2012 I started a Masters there, after which I got accepted into Choreomundus in 2013. After finishing Choreomundus in 2015 in London, I went back to Szeged to pursue the Masters that I had started, and finished it in 2017. My PhD dissertation topic is actually inspired by one of the essays that we had to write during Choreomundus for the Anthropological Approach of Dance course. I wrote about the concept of authenticity in a male folk dance competition in Hungary. After this, I applied for another scholarship called the Petőfi volunteer program. Petőfi Sándor is an important national poet, and this is a scholarship funded by the Hungarian government. It sends volunteers to Hungarians living territories in Transylvania, the upper part of Slovakia, Serbia and Ukraine in order to help the communities there. I spent 9 months in Sighișoara, Romania, working with children, teaching dance and English. We even had a theatre group and I go to visit my friends whenever I can. I would call this, my “gap year” a necessary one after many years of studying: I needed something refreshing! K: I’m currently applying for PhDs and I see that there are many different motivations for people to pursue a PhD. So, what motivated you to do a PhD after that? A: I cannot imagine myself doing anything else other than research. I want to become a professor at some point, but it is not my first motivation. I want to use the advantages of being a PhD student to go far with this research, which I believe, is really important and deep. After the PhD I hope to find a good job that suits my projects and research. Is not easy to visualize the future, I will see…! K: How do you look at your experience during Choreomundus? Was it useful for you? A: My situation is funny - Being in Szeged since 2009, and thanks to Professor László I went to diverse courses in Norway, so I already knew the Choreomundus teachers: Egil, Andrée, Gediminas, Georgiana. In fact, my application video to the Choreomundus programme was recorded one year before with Professor Sándor’s group at one of the intensive courses in Trondheim where I danced csárdás. I felt really happy when I got accepted. I lived in Clermont Ferrand with the group coordinated by Georgiana and it perfectly suited my interests. Georgiana was a great supervisor: in very specific moments, when I needed her, she was really helpful. The topics and lectures we had about ethnographic research methods, helped me to find my own ways of doing research. My group was adorable, we did not have issues, we partied a lot, this made our relationship stronger, and opened my view on how to look at dance and at society. One of my fellows was another Hungarian, Kinga. She is a contemporary dancer, and I didn’t know much about contemporary dance. From an innocent perspective, one may think that contemporary has nothing to do with traditional dances. But we had the chance to work together in Clermont and we combined our two fields: this experience was amazing! It opened our views; it altered my feelings, my respect towards other dances. Up to today, I have some ideas of collaboration with Kinga. Szeged was more home than a trip, and all my cohort went there. We were five flat mates and had lovely months together. During the last semester, in London, I worked as an au pair, a nanny for a Hungarian family. I was in love with the library in Roehampton…I liked London, it was a short time, and we were writing our dissertations. But the feeling was: “I want more…”! I want to study more. The Department is amazing there! I hope I can collaborate with them in the future but currently I'm very busy with my research projects. It opened our views; it altered my feelings, my respect towards other dances. K: Talking about dissertations, what was yours about? A: In the beginning, it was about dance transmissions in folk dance and music camps in Transylvania: I visited three camps during the summer of 2014. During fieldwork, I was hesitant about my topic, something was missing… Until, one evening, a musician from a nearby village came to play in the dance house in the camp. He was like a “special guest”. I knew him from other dance houses, and I was having a good time, when suddenly I noticed that everyone was looking at him with special attention, whispering about, inviting him for a drink (a pálinka!) or getting closer to see him. He was seen as an important representative of a folk music genre, some kind of a ‘legend’. That night I saw interaction and participation that I had not seen in the previous months. He was what we could call an ‘informant’. In the Hungarian terminology, informants are not only interviewees, but people who have first hand information; we could call them “gate keepers” or those who are an authentic source of dance and music knowledge. So I started to look at these relationships in dance camp settings. My dissertation was thus titled ‘The Imaginary Homeland’ to convey the sense of: something is familiar, but not! Familiar to the folk dance practitioners because everybody there speaks Hungarian. But they are not aware of the traditions, even though they are attracted to them. So they go to these camps to acquire such knowledge. And, these special guests are respected and loved in the revival community, and are regarded as “gods and goddesses of traditional culture.” K: I see. So what is your ‘dance’ story? How did you begin dancing? A: At the end of high school I had to decide what to pursue my Bachelors in: I liked literature but not enough to analyze poems or essays. I loved history, but I wasn't great at memorizing names and dates. Somehow I thought ethnography and social anthropology could be a good combination of these. Of course later I discovered it is bigger and quite different to what I had imagined! K: Oh wow. In India, we do not have Bachelors dedicated to study dance theoretically as in Hungary! A: Yes, this is special about Szeged! Hungary has four departments of ethnography and social anthropology, but the one dedicated to dance is in Szeged, and it exists thanks to our Professor László - he started it. I went to a practical folk dance class with Professor Sándor: it was really new for me since I had only done folk dances at primary school. I got fascinated: during that first year it became a passion. The folk dance groups were really great; we made deep connections. Dance brought us together as good friends, and eventually we founded our own dance company. My group is called Möndörgő which means thunder. I am not a professional folk dancer, I dance because I enjoy it. When I go to a Dance House, or in the field, of course I dance, I like it. I don't like to do it for “self-expression” but rather to dance with others together. K: What excites you the most about dance? A: If I were to say ‘dance and heritage’, it is too wide. If I were to say ‘dance and tradition’, it is too narrow! So I would say I am most interested in folk dances as subcultures rather than as structures. I see culture as a living thing, and I'm passionate about how people consider dances, the link between dance and community. (Give an eye to It is not like used to be which also gives a hint of Anna’s research interests.) K: That is indeed fascinating! It is hard to explain to people why we do what we do. Why should we study dance? What would you say? In some way I think it is our responsibility to make dance studies more accessible to people. A: What we are studying now, will be history some day! We can give an understanding of how a community functions. I like to discuss this with people of all kinds: people who are a part of my field, as well as people who are not in academics. It is important to listen to what they need to say about dance. K: What message would you like to leave for the reader? A: Once I had a discussion with Georgiana. I explained everything I wanted to research, and she said “Okay, if that is your topic, sure, you can do it! But so what?” That question has stayed with me forever. This “so what?” is the challenge. It is the base of my discipline. Everytime I write something, I try to answer that question. The idea is to interview one unknown person from a cohort other than yours. Thus you get to know each other while practicing the beautiful craft of interviewing. Kavya began Choreomundus with a Masters in International Development at Sciences Po in Paris, and 20 years of practice in Bharatanatyam. She belongs to cohort #6, which graduated in 2019. Kavya is the kind of person who gives her 100% when she engages in something. The interview went from very general questions, to some personal ones, some recent moments and others from the past. I hope you enjoy reading as much as I did meeting this wonderful person. M. What happened when you finished Choreomundus? K. I danced a lot during the Choreomundus program, so I imagined I would work more as a performer/dancer. But my first “job” reminded me how much I loved research too: to write, to talk, to debate and to analyze. I met Harriet Deacon in 2018 at La Maison de la Culture de France during our Choreomundus intensive in Vitré. She told us she was preparing to work on a project in India where her focus would be on the intersections between marketing, heritage and intellectual property rights. In 2019 we were requested to think of a professionalization project, so I wrote to her, and she said that it was perfect timing: she had begun to work with communities from West Bengal, (the State where I grew up in India) as part of the HIPAMS India project. The project aimed to help these communities to better market their heritage while also being critical and respectful of their ICH; in short, to find harmony between these aspects. I worked with Harriet in a research role among other tasks. The team was composed of experts from Italy, France, and a local Indian NGO called Banglanatak.com. We worked on one dance practice (Chhau Dance), one form of painting and one form of music. Then I took what I call a conscious break and went back home. You know, that feeling... when you feel that it is the right thing to do? I had unfinished business: my final exam for a Masters of Fine Arts in Bharatanatyam was waiting for me since I left for Europe. I took three months to take care of my health, to be with my family and prepare for this exam, which I finished in December. In January 2020 I came to Paris to join my partner Héctor. To be honest, it has not been easy to find a job in a place where you don’t belong. I started working with two other dancers, teaching dance, applying and searching for PhD options and then…COVID-19 happened! Until now, I don't feel like I have taken very big steps after Choreomundus. M. Sometimes we don't perceive quality time sharing with family or choosing a life with a partner as something big. But these times are showing us how important our beloved people are. Things turned in wonderful ways; when I began Choreomundus I thought dance anthropology was one thing, and after those 2 years, I realized many things. Did it happen to you? K. In general I had never touched anything related to anthropology before…I learned so much in these two years! Just the fact that something so close to me such as dance, could be broken down to such an extent was quite new to me. It was shocking to see that almost everything we do in practice can also be theorized, debated and spoken about. Generally when someone speaks about theory of dance, people assume that it means history of dance, but Choreomundus showed me how relevant dance is in the current times, and so related...so interlinked with other subjects that I am very passionate about (gender, race, class issues, decolonisation). There was a big shift in perspective. M. How do you live this Corona time? How do you analyze this situation? K. I deal with it from all different perspectives. I feel both thankful and sometimes guilty. I am in Paris, back home the situation is terrible. Not being able to help my people back home - I feel a bit helpless. I love my country, and sometimes to be in this privileged position is hard to digest. Personally, I feel that what we lack in life is time. This situation forces us to try a bunch of new things, and maybe we love it, maybe we hate it, but at least we try! This situation has given me a lot of time to discover sides of me that I didn't know. Even after so many years as a dancer, I have never choreographed - in the sense of taking the time to reflect, conceptualize, embody ideas, collaborate with others. This time was good to explore; I got to work with people I would have never worked with in other circumstances! A friend from Malaysia in an online “Multi-dancing” project; a friend from Paris, where we constantly pushed each other to try dancing out of our comfort zones. And of course, my mother! She is a Bharatanatyam professional dancer and teacher. We have been practicing together on Skype since the lock down. We create, I learn things from her, we experiment - this has been such a fulfilling and beautiful experience for me. A lot of reflective anthropology also came about after seeing online talks, online performances and debates around online performances (which we - cohort 6 - discussed quite vehemently on our WhatsApp group!). Personally, I do not think the virtual platforms are bad, but there should definitely be some reflection on the part of artists and dancers on what our purpose is, and what we need to do when the world around is in the situation it is in now. That is my new anthropological motivation. I don’t think I would choose to be a screen performer all the time. It won’t be my priority. But at the moment I do like to research what is possible, and that has been a huge learning. M. Coming from contexts outside of Europe, perhaps something that you produce online with your friends in Paris can be read completely differently in your home country and vice versa. There is an interest in that part... It is wonderful what you said about your mum, could you tell me more? K. This pandemic made my mum and me come together to work. All these years our relationship was like any other Indian classical dancer: your guru is unquestionable, you’re the student, you go to class and practice your items and that's all. But that equation changed a bit. We take more risks now - together! “Amma, I´m not going to do this one, because it is the same thing about a woman crying, waiting for her lover. Let’s create something new. Let’s explore other narratives through and within the Bharatanatyam realm.” Suddenly I saw that I have also grown as a dancer, as a thinker. This changed our relationship: there is more friction between us, in a good sense. It brings out issues that we need to talk about. I have a voice in what we do and create. Mum is my guru, my inspiration and my mentor. She is open to it but she also resists, and we have real discussions and arguments about how to make Bharatanatyam more relevant to society! M. I feel that in this way of working together, she created a space for you to become an adult. I think that during lockdown, people´s relationship with their practice is becoming more intimate. We have to face ourselves and make it happen, we find within ourselves the embodied knowledge, we have to dance alone. Perhaps you were able to choreograph long ago, but never dared because you had to think about many things, relate to others with respect to some hierarchies, maybe you were busy with other things, and now in quarantine, you found the space and the courage to do it. What is your relationship with Bharatanatyam at the present? K. My relationship with Bharatanatyam has evolved a lot. I believe the community is very closed; we don’t question the history, themes and the stories of the dance form, we don’t question how it is still so classist, how only certain sections of people do it. And I think there is a fear: people who don’t understand the form very well often feel alienated. The dance form is beautiful. It is great to keep within its structural boundaries, but we should not let these become a barrier. I think the form needs to change, not necessarily the way we dance it, but the themes we portray need to evolve. We are in the XXI century, there has to be some reflection: why and how is Bharatanatyam relevant for our society and how can it be more relevant? That will be my quest. M. What do you feel for your cohort? K. I love them. My first Masters in Paris in Development was stimulating with motivated people who wanted to change the world. But it also implied a competitive and egocentric environment. I did make a lot of friends, but not really deep relationships. Choreomundus was the opposite: we did have competition but with love and respect for each other. The fact that we were so small in number was a huge positive: we could know each other in a very special way. I tend to be empathetic; I make connections everywhere I go. But Choreomundus goes a step deeper. My fellows are not just my colleagues, not just friends, it went a step beyond that. Professionally they pushed me to do things I would have never dared to do on my own. Valentina, Estefania and me went for yoga. They pushed me to try contemporary. Emmanuel was and is always ready to try new projects. Jesus and I often worked with common rhythm structures in Salsa and Bharatanatyam. My girls Katia and Pamela taught me so many important lessons on life and love. Mululu and Sam showed me what kindness and care really mean. We were always encouraging each other - in other environments this kind of growing together is kind of rare. They are my Choreomundus people. M. In the beginning of this interview, when I asked what you did, you said “nothing big, no publications, no papers, not much” and then you shared with me stories about important personal decisions with your partner, you finished other Master, you created with your mum, you traveled, collaborated… all these wonderful things that happened only in one single year! That is why I ask: How do you understand success? What is to be successful? Both in Academia and in dance, we were taught that when you finish something you have to go towards the next step, the higher challenge, society tamed us to always run behind something, simultaneously showing us that we will never reach that perfection... 99% of people end up feeling that they will never be successful, that they can not. I think it is very important to change that perception, I even see it as a postcolonial shift. K. We, ambitious people, tend to connect success to achieving things like milestones: Choreomundus, check! PhD, check! Work with XYZ, check! Choosing Choreomundus was a big change; what I then considered a risky decision in my life. Definitely I think I make the same assumptions about myself: trying to achieve what society thinks is a good idea. But you’re right. How hard these last few months have been! But they have also been a time for healing and a time for nurturing so many new ideas! All of that is something to be proud of, valuable moments which may not fall under the traditional view of success. Success does not always need to be seen as achieving a goal, but in terms of how much you have grown, or how much you have evolved, what has changed in your life, how much positive change you have affected in your community; it is nice to have this change in perspective. Success is not about being worried about whether others approve if you did something well or not, but to know for sure that what you do for is important enough and making a difference. M. Do you want to leave a last message to the readers of this wonderful chat? K. I think what we are doing is important - a program on dance is essential. Sometimes the socio-politics in the world makes us think that dance is not important. But if we continue to work hard and believe in ourselves, we can prove that dance and movement, indeed, deserve a much larger place in the world. See Also: kAVYA'S INSTAGRAM*POST-CHOREOMUNDUS TRAUMAby Nneamaka Augusta Igbonezim and María Peredo Guzmán Do you still remember what you felt the very day of your graduation in Roehampton`s hall, after completing those two wonderful years, together? Or perhaps, you are going towards that glorious day…? Although we believe that the Choreomundus experience is something that accompanies us wherever we go, we acknowledge that finishing an International Masters can be an empowering and sometimes frightening transition. In this article, I would like to share a few of my experiences, some tips and ideas that could be helpful for you as you journey through your Choreomundus and post Choreomundus time. I don’t claim to have all the answers but you can learn a few things from this. First, remember that you are not alone, you have a thriving alumni community that’s always available to help you. So, take advantage of this and reach out to them, ask questions seek counsel, ask for guidance. Just talk - it does help! While in Choreomundus, remember to enjoy your time in every country you visit: It’s not just about studying, there’s an intercultural exchange part of it. I know feedback on your coursework or your assignments can be slow. While you wait, benefit from the many resources you have available to you in the Universities’ libraries and online. You can also count on your fellow students, and spend time with them, as you will miss them later… You also have the alumni and their diverse knowledge base. Having gone through the program already, we have been on your shoes, and we are in a good position to guide you and advise you in diverse matters, from useful literature, to the cheapest laundry in Clermont… Choreomundus is a process for us, but each cohort is part of the process of the programme. I believe that for every cohort there’s been some improvement. So, always try to look on the brighter side of things. Another good piece of advice for you is to find alumni whose areas of interest connect with yours, dissertation topic, fieldwork location or residence location is similar to what you’re working on. You can buddy up to more than one person. Having diverse conversations can stimulate your mind, you might be asked questions that would help you think about your dissertation differently and possibly shine more light on areas that you might have ignored. They can also recommend articles or books to read. Natasha (C1) was that buddy to me many times, via text, audio and video calls. Squeeze the knowledge from the guest lecturers. I looked out for the ones whose research matched mine. I took their contact information and I openly communicated with them. I tried to get an opportunity to speak one-on-one with them, before they leave, about my research and I got ideas from them. I still maintain email communication with some of them. Sometimes I send them something to look at and we share thoughts. Just before he finished his studies, in 2019, I had a long chat with Mululu (Cohort #6) about the ideas we could bring to CAA. At that moment, we dreamt about a team called “The buddy team”, a group of people who would be there to support newcomers, academically and personally. After months trying to design a plan for such team, CAA realized this: Everyone can be a buddy for the others. Some alumni are finishing their PhD, others are just starting, and some of us chose to go towards artistic creation and social work. Some of us went back home with a big bag of tools to transform our realities, while others stayed in Europe or went somewhere else. We are searching for the right way to design such a good database with connective dots, so newcomers could find affinities with older alumni for networking and expanding everyone's possibilities. We are building a project to create a private database of Choreomundus alumni dissertation titles, abstracts, areas of interest, geolocations, and key words. That way, you can narrow down who to speak to, and you don’t have to talk to only one person. Post-Choreomundus life could be challenging, that’s why you should save as much as you can while you still get your stipend. Find different and creative ways of explaining the peculiarities of your research to people, because you’ll find yourself doing that a lot. While some of us want to continue to a PhD, others go straight to get a job, but whichever the case, you have to put in energy and work to get to the next step. Personally, it took me over a year to get a job and when I finally did, it was an unpaid internship at the Smithsonian Institution, but it was a great opportunity for me and I don’t regret it at all. Breathe, take it easy. You are not the same, you have changed during this time far from home. Embrace and observe those changes in future encounters with others, and take note of the ideas that come to your mind. Take your time, some of us needed two years to figure it out, others one, others just a few months... even if you don't see how; things will fall into place. Stay within the dance/art community as much as you can. Keep on dancing as you navigate your way through it all. Best of luck! Amaka (cohort #2) & María (cohort #4)
A collective text written by Jorge Poveda, Majo Bejarano,
Naiara Assunção and Subhashini Goda
PHOTOS, VIDEOS OF PERFORMANCES, AND VIDEO ART LINKS BELOW!
"Is this an actual Festival amidst the COVID-19 situation? Who sees the necessity to dance at this point while everyone is battling larger issues?" The coronavirus pandemic caught Cohort 7 at the end of their Choreomundus journey into a lush southwest London setting, and within this context of social isolation and distancing naturally, came about the dancing. Or should we say, Dance? This self-quarantine and imposed isolation moment brought lots of frustration. As a group, we are conscious that it is our last semester together, and the only semester to enjoy the amazing classes and teachers at Roehampton, to take advantage of living in a multicultural London with its access to theatres, parties, seminars, bars, conferences, libraries, workshops, lectures, performances, museums, and all the richness of a cosmopolitan cultural and social lifestyle. And so the inevitable occurred. Trips were cancelled, plans were abandoned, gatherings were prohibited. Every day brought a different message of a workshop or a conference being cancelled or postponed. It was becoming increasingly difficult to find motivation to wake up in the morning and continue the work that we should be doing (yes, essays, assignments and dissertation still to be completed). These are tough times to handle, floating between the familiarity and strangeness; between normality and emergency; between home and work; between the real and the virtual; between the present and a slippery future that escapes from everyone's hands when we are about to hold it. Between those feelings, there is a strong, pertinent question: When the general orientation is “stay home”, we saw ourselves asking: "what is home? How do we habit it? How do we know it exists?" Some of us chose some years ago to go into the world to look for our home. We have lived in several houses since then, all of them filled with different accents, sights, tastes, sounds and movements. Colourful houses that we turned into our own place, one way or another, with the companionship of beautiful souls. This storm has surprised us in a house that we thought of as transitory, but with other people in it, thanks to which we now call it home. Being trapped between borders. For us, the birds that chose a life without them, it is a new challenge. But now that we play with languages, "bordar" in Spanish and Portuguese languages means knitting. Which are the new borders to be knitted with our hands careful, insistent effort? Which affects are to be knitted in this residence? How do we weave our narratives of belonging into this space? We miss a lot of people, although being confined with part of a big aggregated family and having the privilege to see and talk to them everyday, even with a window separating us, makes all the difference. Our hands are so dry from all this compulsive washing, but we still feel immensely lucky. We have each other. To cope with the isolation, Jorge started with the idea that every day, at 4pm, one of us should do a performance in the grass in front of our house so that all the rest of the people around can see through their windows (the Mount Claire accommodation of Roehampton University). It started off with a small seed of joy Jorge planted, to give us relief from the monotony of stunted time and sensitise familiarity. Now, we are calling this creative experiment “Performing the Pandemics (Emergency Festival)”. Jorge was the first one to perform. Naiara, Subhashini, Majo, Bianca, Anÿla, Dafni, Fadi and Celina have already danced on our improvised stage. We are also holding dance classes and streaming them live in social media sometimes, hoping it brings a bit of joy to others that are also facing social isolation. Videos, pictures, drawings, songs and other creative material are being produced to record this difficult but inventive moment. These performances are a grounding exercise, an old feeling of those birds who travelled and got surprised by the land telling them something about growing roots… About knowing that the tree that is afraid to dig its roots deep into the soil will forever be afraid to spread its branches to the sky. It is a welcome hug from Mother Earth, whenever we are now. Even as we share this, we are trying to maintain sanity with a sense of community, creativity and love. Somethings will never be the same, so let the new world catch us dancing into it! PHOTOS: VIDEOS OF PERFORMANCES:
Naiara
Subhashini
Dafni
Fadi
VIDEO ART LINKS:
“Memoria, Verdad y Justicia” by Majo Bejarano, Naiara Assunção and Tainá Louven
“Virulent Aesthetics” by Jorge Poveda with Majo Bejarano “One Sun split into Two” by Jorge Poveda with Subhashini Goda and Avanthi Meduri “BIANCA VODYOK” by Jorge Poveda with Bianca Beneduzi “Communitas” by Majo Bejarano, with Jorge, Naiara, Tainá and Subhashini “Third Pink Wave from Kosovo” by Jorge Poveda with Anÿla Musa “Diseminaciones/We need more soap” by Jorge Poveda with Dafni Pantazopoulou “COVID Antidote” by Jorge Poveda with Fadi Giha “Tour through the twilight” by Jorge Poveda with Celina Gallo “Plenty of air, plenty of faces” by Jorge Poveda with Majo Bejarano “Notes about a quarantined body” by Majo Bejarano By: Ximena Purita Banegas Zallio Choreomundus is the program that gave me an opportunity to see and understand dance in a different dimension. My concepts of dance were very limited and narrow compared to the vast amount of information, activities, research, and work being done in this area today. So far the Choreomundus International Master degree has allowed me to see dance and to explore it in a completely different light. Learning new concepts, theories, and perceptions of its importance in everyday society, have given me a wide range of ideas and possibilities for future endeavors. It has shown me that there is an entire world of academia and opportunities to be discovered in dance knowledge, movement, and intangible heritage. Choreomundus is allowing me to combine my passions for international relations and dance in a way that I thought could not be possible. And I could not forget about the opportunities of studying and getting to live in Hungary, Norway, France, and the UK. I have had the opportunity to travel to more than 30 countries and the grandeur of the Hungarian architecture definitely one of the most breathtaking I have seen. And I could not forget to mention the opportunity to experience the particularly rich cultural heritage. So excited for the upcoming semesters and to get to explore more about dance, culture and the different methods of study in each university. Which so far has given us a taste of the different ways of life, research and academic processes that take place in each country. As an alumna of the Choreomundus program I seek for any opportunity to promote Choreomundus, to keep and share acquired knowledge and develop my skills in dance research. After graduation I had two great occasions to do it in my home country. In the middle of October, I was invited as an American University of Central Asia (AUCA) alumna to present my Master thesis during Student Symposium of Social Sciences that was held in AUCA. In the beginning of December professor Emil Nasritdinov offered me to conduct the final seminar of 2017 for the Anthropology Club of AUCA. Honestly, it was my first time giving a one-hour academic talk about specific topic by my own. Considering the fact that the week before my hard driver with all collected data got damaged I was extremely stressed. Nevertheless, I remembered the Choreomundus professors, my friends as well as our lectures which gave me the power to go ahead. As a result, I made an overview of Anthropology of Dance as a unique field of study, presented the summary of my Master’s Thesis, “Islamic influence in the Tatar folk dance”, and taught guests some dancing movements to a Tatar music. I mentioned some examples from Choreomundus lectures which helped to make my presentation more fluent. The small section on Labanotation surprised them and triggered questions. At the end of the seminar we had a question-answer session. The informal atmosphere created positive energy that let me talk independently and confidently. Professor Nasritdinov wished me the best of luck and success in my future endeavors. From my side I set a goal to continue academic research in the field of dance. Watch the Video! |
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in all posts are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the association or the MA program.
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