I know it when I see it

Performance

2019

It is common to hear dance professionals discuss the authenticity and sincerity of movement using words such as “real”, “natural”, “emergent”, and “spontaneous”. This is part of a larger discussion about what is fake, pretentious, or simulated, and what is “real” in art.

When trying to say what constitutes hard-core pornography, US Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart said “perhaps I could never succeed in intelligibly doing so. But I know it when I see it”. This summarises the irony and difficulty of trying to find a definition for a concept that is subjective and lacks clear parameters.

In this piece, that I co-created with Luísa Saraiva and the collaboration of Frances Chiaverini, we wished to explore the dimensions of misrepresentation, bluffing, deception, mindlessness and nonsense in dancing. Can we tell “authentic” dancing? Is it worse if we know it’s not? Can we really know it when we see it?

To test our assumptions, we developed an interview score that we named “Counselling for future dances”. It is an exercise of guided imagination that addresses the desires, wishes, and interests of performers, and how they describe and experience their work.

In early 2019, we used this score to interview 45 professional dancers – all of them working in the various contexts and styles usually referred to as “contemporary dance” – from their early 20’s to their mid 40’s, representing 17 different nationalities and living in 14 different European cities with strong dance scenes. We recorded the interviews.

We then analysed the answers using methods such as content analysis, in collaboration with a psychology scholar, in order to try to create a collective overview of group awareness.

The basis for the dialogue, movements, and attitudes of I know it when I see it comes from the interviews with these 45 dancers. Their imaginary dances were reenacted, reinterpreted, and bastardised by us.

We bluffed our way through it, and even if we faked it, we probably got it right.

Shows

Festival Circular

at Teatro Municipal de Vila do Conde, PT

September 19, 2019

Maschinenhaus, Essen, DE

October 30–31, 2019

Materials

↓PDF "Counselling for future dances" (in English)
↓PDF "Aconselhamento para danças futuras" no Jornal Coreia #1 (in Portuguese)

Concept, direction, and performance

Carlos Azeredo Mesquita

Luísa Saraiva

Artistic collaboration and performance

Frances Chiaverini

Set design

Carlos Azeredo Mesquita

Music

Julius Gabriel

Costumes

João Rôla

Text and content analysis

João Francisco Barreto

Light design

Rui Barbosa

Sound design

Ricardo Cabral

Interview subjects/choreographic material in partnership with

Aaron Davis, Alejandro Russo, Alexandre Archour, Ana Renata Polónia, Ana Rita Teodoro, Angela Diaz Quintela, Beniamin Boar, Blanca Noguerol Ramirez, Bryan Campbell, Catarina Miranda, Charlotte Virgile, Claire Vivienne Sobottke, Cristina Planas Leitão, Cyril Baldy, David Marques, Filipe Pereira, Francisco Pinho, Frank Willens, Ine Claes, Inês Campos, Jacob Storer, João dos Santos Martins, Johann Geidies, Jorge Puerta Armenta, Leyla Postalcioglu, Marco da Silva Ferreira, Marcus Baldemar, Margaux Marielle-Trehoüart, Maria Ferreira Silva, Meri Pajunpää, Michael Helland, Montserrat Gardó Castillo, Pedro Prazeres, Petr Hastik, Renan Martins de Oliveira, Rósa Ómarsdóttir, Sheena McGrandles, Simon Hartmann, Theo Livesey, Tiago Coelho, Tilman O’Donnell, Tyshea Suggs, Vincenzo Carta

Produced by 

Carlos Azeredo Mesquita

Luísa Saraiva

Co‐produced by

Festival Circular

with the support of

Maschinenhaus Essen

Funded by

Kunststiftung NRW

Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian

Porto City Council/Shuttle

DGArtes – Direcção-Geral das Artes/República Portuguesa

Goethe Institut

Stadt Essen Kulturbüro

Supported by

Espaço do Tempo

Teatro Municipal do Porto

Circolando

Armazém 22

Companhia Instável

Duration

50 minutes

Shows / Photo credits

1–5

Maschinenhaus Essen / Sofia Arriscado

6–8

Festival Circular at Teatro Municipal de Vila do Conde / Festival Circular