Dance with me
In this work, I stand alone, holding a cardboard with “Dance with me” written on it and invite passers-by on the street to slow dance with me. A performance happens spontaneously when someone decides to dance with the me. It does not matter if the dance is clumsy and awkward, the important thing is that we make a real physical contact and the barriers between our bodies are removed for the duration of a song. “Dance with me” is an invitation to step away from the busy world for a short instant and enter into a serendipitous moment of intimacy. Wrapped within each other’s embrace, we are left alone with our personal thoughts and feelings as we experience the sensation of being in close contact with another human body.
In an age where social media pervades our life, this project is a reminder of what we may be on the way of losing. It is also my attempt to deal with the disconnectedness, loneliness and helplessness in the complex world we live in today. It is also a protest against the poverty of physical connectedness and empathy that is endemic of our times. I want to use dance as a tool to connect with and to embrace another body. Dancing becomes a shared act between two bodies as we reach out, come together, dance, play, make mistakes and try again. It is an intimate and personal encounter. Just as no two individual body is the same, no two dance will be the same. Every time we dance, we are trying to create a new space and time for ourselves.
This project started in September 2014 in Berlin (Germany) and has travelled to different cities: Singapore, Nicosia (Cyprus). Catania (Italy), Zürich, Luzern, La Chaux de Fonds, Neuchâtel, Yverdon-les-brains (Switzerland).
Dedicated to the memory of Thomas Ursenbacher.
