In-between a performance and a workshop, the project puts on stage fight-exercises open to participation to challenge cultural “prohibitions” and “permissions”. Minimum participation involves an observation, maximum would be to play outside the comfort zone. A Trainer gives the instructions and guides the participants. A series of dialogues will be added gradually by performers to add up to the physical challenges. Roles of victims and aggressors will be exchanged and explored.

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Comfortable clothing recommended!

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The project’s theoretical references recall Chantal Mouffe’s concept of bringing back the agonism and the political into public sphere (by the book Hegemony and Socialist Strategy’, which she co-authored in 1985 with Ernesto Laclau). Mouffe proposes an agonistic democratic model focused on the transformation of political enemies into adversaries within a necessarily conflictual democratic framework. The project explores notions of permissiveness and prohibition, identifications with victims/ aggressors and “the other” as the one who destabilizes our identity. How to go beyond these divisions without suppressing desires and rights under societal consensuses?

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The performance is inspired by Systema, a martial art from Russia used in the military as survival exercises, often claimed to offer a sense of “self-heal”. Originally its a hand-to-hand combat, grappling, knife fighting and fire-arms training. A mixed movement from both Systema, different martial arts and contact improvisation (without arms or knives) structure the performative exercises. To that dialogues/monologues from performers are added, the “inner voices” of the people who fight, in order to challenge our concepts and bodies on “limits”, aggressions, victimizations. Our contradictions come to play.

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Vana Kostayola

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