Econarratives
Bodies of Anthropocene
Medusa: A tentacle system - video dance
A movement research project based on the exploration of the relationship between body, femininity and nature. We explored the concept of tentacularity as narrated by Donna Haraway:
"The tentacular are not disembodied figures; they are cnidarians, spiders, fingery beings like humans and raccoons, squid, jellyfish, neural extravaganzas, fibrous entities, flagellated beings, myofibril braids, matted and felted microbial and fungal tangles, probing creepers, swelling roots, reaching and climbing tendrilled ones. The tentacular are also nets and networks, it critters, in and out of clouds. Tentacularity is about life lived along lines — and such a wealth of lines — not at points, not in spheres. “The inhabitants of the world, creatures of all kinds, human and non-human, are wayfarers”; generations are like “a series of interlaced trails.”
Our work was based on research meetings in natural environments where we apply bodily observation exercizes, tasks of polycentric movement and multicensory perception. We aimed in developing a kinesioloy of female power through movement metamorphosis.
The result of our work is the visual artwork "Medusa: A tentacle system", a video dance inspired by two myths as narrated from the ancient Latin poet and writer Ovidius in his book “Metamorphoses” meaning “transformations”. The myths of “Perseus and Medusa” and the myth of “Niobe” are the core materials for the development of our visual synthesis.
Idea/Concept: Trial & Preforming Arts
Choreographers: Angeliki Petraki, Marianna Karavida
Dramaturgy / Research: Lydia Xourafi
Performers: Marianna Karavida, Angeliki Petraki, Lydia Xourafi
Video Maker / Photos: Thomas Giannakakis