I was invited by Dublin-based creative duo and multidisciplinary production house Flora Fauna Project to select artists and develop the concept for their virtual platform ROOM, exploring the role of movement-based practices in building empathy & community. In a year where a lot of creative production was directed to online spaces, we thought long and hard about how this platform could not only celebrate the social, transformative power of dance, but counter the usual cycles of artistic production and labour.
For ROOM, rather than ask artists to create, choreograph, or perform new work, we invited them to offer reflections on their personal and artistic journeys thus far through writings, drawings, and conversations, displayed alongside objects from their archives.
Each of the seven participating artists exemplify the ways in which dance can be used to support one other across systemic barriers and bridge gaps based on gender, income, race, status, language, and ability.
Their artistic practices open dialogue and creative exchange with people who are incarcerated or formerly incarcerated, those afflicted with Parkinson’s disease, newcomers, youth, scientists, untrained dancers, people with less access to economic opportunities, and those less seen and heard in our society. Through extensive community collaborations, these artists rupture conventional ideas of what dance is, who can perform it, what stories are told, who is the expert, and who is the audience.
