© Sonia Soney
A dance residency quite in the middle of the pandemic, in one of the safe time slots was definitely an interesting experience as a movement artist. To begin with, there was so much room and personal space to explore, understand and experience the cultural difference, the pattern of patriarchal changes since history in the region, the history of strong women in Düsseldorf, and so on. As a choreographer my work is influenced by what women have to put up with on a daily basis, due to the patriarchal conditioning and structures.
Recently my focus has shifted to explore how I can relate and translate my work to the cishet male audience, which is something I reflected on during the time of the residency. So many feminist performances, but an increased number of men don't relate, when compared to the other genders. This is the challenge I am willing to work on. To dissolve barriers and find that connect and balance as a performer.
© Kirthi Kumar Barik
Understanding and translating the human body, its experience and its being beyond the gender binary is something I wish to research and focus on in the future as well. I aim to take this work to the public, in public places making
it more inclusive to a wider audience, who haven't had the opportunity to know this side of art and its potential. Inviting healing, unlearning and relearning, opening our wired minds to new beautiful perspectives. Texts, research, real life stories and experiences, subjectivity of art, human behavioural patterns, theatre influence my choreographic process and performances.
My recent work
PURPOSE, that I presented during my
bangaloREsidency-Expanded@Weltkunstzimmer is a work that's highly influenced by stories of people who have been hard hit by the patriarchal structure in their lives. By bringing their stories to stage I ask for change and necessary shifts needed in society. This time through elements of irony,
sarcasm and teeny tiny bit of humour, maybe or maybe not. The movement vocabulary of the piece has been developed from the writings and texts and draws its inspiration from the poem "Still I rise" by Maya Angelou.