TRANSCULTURAL PROTOCOL, 2017

PERFORMANCE, 2017,50 MIN

Concept and Choreography - Rachel Monosov and Admire Kamudzengerere

Performers - Juna Leocaria, Alexandra Berger, Isaac Owens, Victor Dumont

Music -  INRA (Philipp Rhensius & Adam Ben-Nun)

Producer - Catinca Tabacaru

Costume Design - Marc Witmer

Production Assistant - Raphael Guilbert

With the Support of - TRIANGLE art Association NY

ARTISTS’ NOTE 

At that moment sitting and talking under the muhacha tree, it seemed so natural to collaborate. Inspired and invigorated, we started to explore our boundaries, attesting to our own inner egos. What seemed to be our vast differences became our mutual connection binding our understanding
of humanity. Gradually we became aware of one another’s individual, maybe even selfish artistic pursuits. Armed with this new knowledge, we unfolded issues relevant and irrelevant to the piece, yet similar within our two cultures. Day and night, time ceased to exist. We were changing, evolving through one another’s concepts and reflections. 

Two years later, sitting on the New York train from Essex to York Street we became aware of our boundaries within this new context. We arrived at the creation of this performance work, Transcultural Protocol. Through the appropriation of familiar images from Western art history, Jewish praying practices, and Zimbabwean traditional gestures, we unfold movements that seem simultaneously familiar and strange, strong and weak, aggressive, and loving—all while asking the same question: who are we? In three acts, movement and body reflect upon how we perceive ourselves and the other, while addressing society systems and patterns that cause tension within and between diverse groups. We mirror private and public space, presenting images of melancholy with the flavors of cliché. What if we forgot the dance? What if we forgot the rhythm; forgot the movements? What if all the fragments were mixed together until nothing was left and the question of who you are cannot be answered? Your past is gone and you don’t really care about the future. Is it the dance of The Now?