Tiran Willemse: blackmilk (2023)
Saturday, 22 November at 6:00 p.m.
dance performance
Viba film, Small Studio
Duration: 70 min.
We are very pleased to announce that Tiran Willemse, a dancer and choreographer from South Africa who lives and works in Switzerland, will be joining us for the first time. Willemse’s work boldly investigates the kinetic and emotional aspects of bodies using audio and visual techniques, unveiling the somatic and psychological landscapes of human subjectivities. The CoFestival curatorial team has always been fascinated by how exclusive kinetic materials define more or less legible or culturally coded postures of individual social groups, gender manifestations, or other forms of social affiliations and their associated meanings. Brecht’s concept of gestus should definitely be applied more productively in the choreographic field than the theatrical one. The idea that identity can only transition into the realm of difference through a change in movement – by departing from a specific communal choreography to a place where one’s posture and its social implications can be critically examined – presents an intriguing task of dance objectification. Ultimately, Althusser’s concept of ideology itself is tied to formalized ritual that interpellates the individual into a subject; thus, gestuses are effectively products of ideological training.
The solo is accompanied by the following text: “In blackmilk, Tiran Willemse presents the first part of the trompoppies trilogy, a term in Afrikaans referring to uniformed drum majorettes. The performance delves into one of the central choreographic elements of these dance formations: precisely defined hand gestures. Through the intertwining of trompoppies movements with the melodramatic gestures of white female starlets and the gestures of Black masculine rapper stars the work investigates the distance and proximity of images depicting African and Afro-American manifestations of masculinity. blackmilk intervenes in the relatively limited repertoire of these manifestations through performative means. It explores a range of affective bodies in the grey areas between clear identity legibilities, aiming to open them up to a complex sensitivity the artist terms Black male melancholy.”
Concept, artistic direction and performance: Tiran Willemse
Lighting design: Fudetani Ryoya
Music: Manuel Riegler
Costume: LML studio Berlin
Production: Paelden Tamnyen, Rabea Grand
Touring: Tristan Barani
Co-production: Sophiensaele Berlin, Tanzquartier Wien, Gessnerallee Zürich, WP Zimmer Antwerp
Residency support: Tanzhaus Zurich, Buda Kortrijk, Les Urbaines Lausanne, Impulstanz Vienna, Trauma Bar and Kino Berlin
* The performance will be held in English.
Organised by: Kino Šiška and NDA Slovenia in collaboration with Viba film
Free entry
Supported by:
Cover photo: Laila Kaletta