DANCE AND “NORMALITY”, INTEGRART SYMPOSIUM 2015, Geneva, Switzerland

[Marlon Barrios Solano]

INTEGRART SYMPOSIUM 2015
DANCE AND “NORMALITY”

 

Tuesday, 2 June 2015
MEG Musée d’ethnographie de Genève
Boulevard Carl-Vogt 65-67, Geneva

More information:

http://www.integrart.ch/en/symposium

You can watch the broadcast here:

“Paradoxically it is only when we recognise that we are not completely controlled by norms, that we become free to radically deconstruct and change them.“
Judith Butler

Ever since the beginning of the 20th century Dance History can be told as a continuous questioning of aesthetic and social normativity. However, contemporary dance is still defined by conventions and standards that mirror prevailing social norms. This becomes clear when people with a disability enter the stage – and especially when they do not.

At the fifth IntegrART symposium, artists and experts will focus on creating and recreating “normality” in dance and society. By looking through the lens of the history of culture and dance to analyse this phenomenon, the symposium aims to find aesthetic and ethical alternatives to the tyranny of the “neutral”.

The symposium will explore the following questions (among others):

• What lies behind the concept of “normality”? How did it develop and how does it manifest itself in the age of “diversity”?
  
• What part did norms, particularly norms regarding the body and people’s perceived abilities, play in the 20th century of dance? Which rules determine what is dance and who is a “real” dancer today?
  
• What strategies can be used to question, undermine and potentially overcome the “dictate of normality” as an exclusion mechanism?
  
• What are the different artistic practices of dancers with a disability and how do they relate to current standards and conventions in professional dance?
  
• What perspectives does this offer for dancers with a disability in particular and dance in general?

Artistic practices are the starting point for our reflections at the fifth IntegrART symposium. The programme includes presentations and discussions, artists’ videos, short dance pieces, performances, demonstrations and workshops.

Concept: Marcel Bugiel
Collaboration on the concept: Saša Asentic

An international symposium by Migros Cultural Percentage. The 2015 event is organised in partnership with the City of Geneva as part of Out of the Box – Biennale des Arts inclusifs. Supported by the Federal Bureau for the Equality of People with Disabilities FBED, the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia, Corymbo Foundation and Migros Geneva.