To Cajole

- work in progress - 

by Alessia Luna Wyss Camilla Przystawski 

A dance piece, a dialogue, a fight between two women. Developed in a state of injury for one of them, the performers are challenging the conventional display of interaction between two women by making use of the influences of martial art techniques they have in common (Play-Fight and Systema) and combine them with their approach to contemporary dance and partner work to unveil a wide variety of character traits and physicality.

To Cajole wants to invite the audience to a co-created space where we can accept to be vulnerable; a space where to support someone without being hurt; a shared time expecting nothing.

The topics we have been researching around are self-defense, origin of violence, human connection, collaboration and confrontation. The piece is inspired by the book 'Self-defense – a philosophy of violence' by Elsa Dorlin. With this piece we want to dig deep inside the art of improvisation on stage, departing from the question How to keep being surprised on stage and let real emotions happen without leaving a natural, yet performative state. We also want to find an expression for our political thoughts and to contribute to bringing further feminist and queer topics and addressing them publicly to an audience.

Length: 15 minutes

  • Alessia Luna Wyss (BE/IT/FR/CH) is a performer, choreographer and visual artist based in Brussels. Founding member of the cooperative En Archipel asbl. She collaborated with international institutions (Chile, Canada, France and Belgium) for her most recent indoor piece Selk'Nord #Beautiful Alien Object funded by Charleroi Danse and FWB.

  • Camilla Przystawski (GER/PL), born 27/4/1992, Berlin based, working as freelance performer/contemporary dancer since 2012 in Europe/USA/South America, collaborating with other artists and creating her own work continuously. Education in contemporary dance and choreography (GER and IT), additional training in urban dance styles and martial arts. She is part of the artistic team of TanzTangente Berlin. Her recent work 'Through Walls' has been invited by Berliner Festspiele to Tanztreffen der Jugend.

Previous work-in-progress showings took place at ZOA festival Theatre L'etoile du Nord, Paris, PIC FESTIVAL France, Casa Monterosi Italy, UrbanRaum Berlin, TicTac Art Centre Brussels, TanzTangente Berlin.

Kindly supported by Garage29 Brussels and TanzTangente Berlin.