Choreomaniacs
performance , 41 min, 2020
BLOT - Body Line of Thought
performance, 42 min, 2022
description
Choreomaniacs is a performative docufiction that chronologically traces the events that marked the “dance epidemic” of the summer of 1518 in Strasbourg—a mass dystopian manifestation that affected several hundred people. The performance raises questions about the way we choose to view dance, starting from a series of testimonies by scholars of the time—a mixture of pseudo-science, theology, and medieval science fiction. The emphasis is on how the spread of the epidemic was documented: the events are narrated from the perspective of the one who observes them, never from the perspective of the one who lives them.
CONCEPT
- The city of Strasbourg is on high alert. A dance epidemic breaks out in the central square of the city. Named over time “St Vitus Dance”, “Chorea Lasciva”, “Dance Mania” or “Choreomania”, the documentation of this event is as bizarre as the manifestation itself—a blend of humoral medicine, supernatural phenomena, a little mycology, and some mythology.
For those who dare to skip the articles that make up the Internet buzz, the dance epidemic is strongly infused with the ideas of the Christian Church of the late Middle Ages. The few contemporary researchers who have studied it classify the event as mass hysteria, and some dance theorists even describe it as an early manifestation of choreopolitics.
This dystopian event became historical information through the visions of those who had a voice in the community at the time—clergy, local authorities, theologians, chroniclers. In the absence of any testimony from a choreomaniac, the cause of this epidemic remains pure speculation—speculation that has gradually turned into historical truth.
CREDITS
choreography & dramaturgy Simona Deaconescu
cerformers Vera Cîrlugea/ Georgia Elza Măciuceanu, Adrian Popița, Robert Popa, Diana Dragu, Laura Murariu/ Simona Dabija
music Vlaicu Golcea
light design Alexandros Raptis
production management Laura Trocan
produced by The National Center for Dance Bucharest
part of the series “Dance Me to the End of… (exercises, distances, approaches)”. The project is co-financed by the Administration of the National Cultural Fund. The project does not necessarily represent the position of the Administration of the National Cultural Fund. AFCN is not responsible for the content of the project, nor the manner in which the results of the project can be used. All these are entirely the responsibility of the beneficiary of the grant.
Simona Deaconescu establishes witty analogies and daringly opens the gap between the ideas presented by the narration and the caricaturally schematized choreography inspired by social networks. The ideological richness of this performance lies in the subversive exposure of the instrumentalization of the media, which has stifled the image of today’s world.
JASMINA FUČKAN, PLESNA SCENA
Choreomaniacs opens up a question that might be linked with the history of dance itself: is a new, disruptive movement considered a disease?