On July, 11 at NAMU opens a project devoted to the contemporary dance. Often when people think of dance, they imagine something rather poetic involving arabesques and pirouettes. But this notion couldn’t be more at odds to the stark form of resistance presented by the Ukrainian dance community. The NAMU continues to exhibit new types and forms of contemporary art in its halls and explores ways of their museumification.
In this multimedia exhibition visitors can find the powerful medium of dance operating in the most extraordinary and unexpected ways in Ukraine during the war. Project is the culmination of two trips to Ukraine (Lviv and Kyiv) by two photographic artists, Maria Falconer and Paul Hill, in collaboration with Viktor Ruban (as co-curator, co-producer and dance-artist), sound artist Grigory Semenchuk and a group of Ukrainian contemporary dance artists: Alla Shliakhova, Khrystyna Slobodianiuk, Kristina Shyshkariova, Larysa Venediktova, Liudmyla Mova, Mariya Salo, Mykyta Kravchenko, Svitlana Oleksiuk and Taisiia Tymofieieva.
Participating dance-artists were invited to respond to the question ‘how do you dance in a war zone?’ not with words, but through the language of the body and movement. Each location used was chosen specifically by the dancer for its relevance to their individual experience of the Russian invasion. The soundtrack consists of recordings from the invasion including the trenches, shootings, shakhed-drones, missiles, sirens and tanks. These articulate, moving responses offer an illuminating insight into so much more than pirouettes and arabesques expanding the understanding of dance and bringing its meaning and mission on completely another level.
Production: Maria Falconer, Professor Paul Hill and Viktor Ruban (Ruban production ITP and CO ICF Impulse Transformation Platform).
In Ukraine project will be presented: July 11 – August 17, 2024 at the National Art Museum of Ukraine (Kyiv) and September 7 – October 12, 2024 at the Hnat Khotkevych Culture Palace (Lviv)
The project will be available for viewing in the halls of the National Art Museum of Ukraine at Hrushevskoho Str., 6, Kyiv, on Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 12:00 to 18:00. Entrance fee: full ticket – 150 UAH, discounted ticket (schoolchildren, students, pensioners) – 100 UAH, free entrance for military personel.
Multimedia project “How do you Dance in a War Zone?” accompanied by the events of the parallel program.
Partners and supporting institutions: National Art Museum of Ukraine, National Khanenko Museum, National Dovzhenko Center (Kyiv, Ukraine), Hnat Khotkevych Culture Palace, Lviv municipal Lesya Ukrainka Theater, Denis Barabanza Sound Archive (Lviv, Ukraine), Assembly festival Edinburgh, Dance Base, Scotland’s National Centre for Dance, Loxley printing (Edinburgh, UK), Royal Photographic Society, Stills Gallery (London, UK)
Openanig of the project: July, 11 (Thursday) at 6:30 p.m., free entrance by registration.
The project is on show last from July 11 to August 17, the exposition is available every Thursday, every Friday and every Saturday from 12:00 to 18:00.
Cost: full ticket – 150 UAH, discounted ticket (schoolchildren, students, pensioners) – 100 UAH, free entry for military personnel.