LABO* Stockholm 2018 LABO and THE POLITICS OF DANCE TODAY

Performance Situation Rooms
held during LABO* Stockholm 16-21 April 2018

Participants : Cullberg Ballet (SE)- dancers, Anand Bolder, Heather Birley, Giacomo Citton, Eleanor Campbell, Lisa Drake, Unn Faleide, Yulia Kalinchenko, Sylvie Gehin Karlsson, Katie Jacobson, Georges Hann, Suelem De Oliveira Da Silva, Daniel Sjökvist, Núria Guiu Sagarra, Adam Shütt, Gesine Moog, Eliott Marmouset, Camille Prieux, Vincent Van Der Plas, Thomas Zamolo. Guest dancer Elisabeth Schilling,
2^nd Year students from DOCH, University for Dance and Circus (SE) Morgane Nicol, Jennie Bergsli, Alexander Talts, Danilo Alexandre, Sonja-Riitta Laine, Shiraz Amar, Aurore d'Audiffert Klara Sjöblom, Miranda, Wallmon, Caitlin Dear, Anna-Maria Ertl, Molly Engblom, Klara Utke Acs, Anna Skorpen, Corinne Mustonen, Julia Nylander. Four open places were offered to the members of Danscentrum.
All participants took part in the workshops throughout the duration of the festival:

Choreographic decision-making in the creation of participatory events

Date and Place: 16-18 April 2018 Danscentrum Stockholm

With Dana Caspersen (US)

In a 3-day intensive, the 2^nd year dance students from the university for Dance and Circus together with the dancers of Cullberg Ballet and dancers from the independent dance scene worked with conflict specialist and performing arts innovator Dana Caspersen to consider the impact of choreographic decision-making in the creation and realization of participatory events. Through a framework that contained ideas and practices from the fields of both conflict studies and choreography, participants examined categories of choreographic decisions being made on both individual and systemic levels. They engaged in a guided, hands-on process of creating sketches for new physical models of participatory events.

Aggressive Snuggling: From the Politics of Touch to the Poetics of Touch

Date and place: 19-20 April Danscentrum Stockholm

With Eroca Nicols (US)

In a 2 day intensive workshop the same participants worked with Eroca Nicols on the topic of consent in contact improvisation.

Eroca Nicols: Often boundaries are muddy in contact improvisation and there are many reasons for this including systemic hetero-patriarchy, white supremacy, colonialist ideas of "freedom" and ableism. CI culture can include clear boundaries but in my experience it does not, and this excludes many people particularly many women and femme presenting folks, queer folks, gender fluid folks, people of colour and folks of different abilities. I want CI to be a place I can invite my community, but it is currently not. Perhaps by adopting some of the explicit consent codes of BJJ, we can address some of the issues around consent and boundaries that exist inside the CI community. And do so with care and openness.

I want to stress the importance and the place for the politics of touch to precede the poetics of touch. I believe that we can begin to work on this and at the same time have a good time learning some fun skills from another partnered movement practice (Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.)

Dharma meets art pop-up retreat

Date and Place: 19-21 April 2018, Moderna Museet Stockholm

With Rachel Fuller aka Vajradarshini(GB)

In a 3 day intensive pop up retreat which took place at the Museum for modern art, the participants explord yet another realm, approach, to art, themselves and creativity. They explored some of the essential Buddhist teachings on the nature of mind through the practice of reflection, silence, meditation and walking meditation. Dharma means ‘truth teachings’. Usually dharma is the name given to the Buddha’s teachings, but he famously said that whatever teachings lead to freedom, those teachings are Dharma. Three days. Three realms. Three doorways to freedom. In the realm of ‘time’ we find the doorway into clarity.In the realm of ‘space’, a doorway into openness. The realm of ‘sensitivity’ opens the doorway into ‘letting go’.

Dharma meets art meditation workshop at The Museum of Modern Art

Date and Place: 19-21 April 2018, Moderna Museet Stockholm

with Rachel Fuller aka Vajradarshini(GB)

This workshop was open to the museum public, festival public and artists. It was based on the same principles as the intensive workshop in a condensed format. The workshop was free to the public and required only that one registered in order to keep track on the number of participants due to the space.

The workshop had a maximum capacity of 20 places, though we did exceed this number on all three days.