Continuum
Continuum is a work about the impossibility of meeting in the contemporary society. This project was born from the idea of Liquid Modernity and the constant state of fluidity in the contemporary life. In the piece three performers find themselves in a situation of constant trying and failing, which generates a serie of impossible meetings. A meeting that never happens was the axial for the development of the performance.
These impossible meetings are the effects of the Liquid Modernity in the human relationships.
Liquid Modernity is a theory developed by the sociologist Zygmunt Bauman that characterizes the contemporary society as a society dominated by instability and liquidity. According to Bauman, the modern society is in the transition from solid to liquid, were the system of life based on solid truth and structures were replaced by the liquidity.
“What all these features of fluids amount to, in simple language, is that liquids, unlike solids, cannot easily hold their shape. Fluids, so to speak, neither fix space nor bind time. While solids have clear spatial dimensions but neutralize the impact, and thus downgrade the significance, of time (effectively resists its flow or render it irrelevant), fluids do not keep to any shape for long and are constantly ready (and prone) to change it; and so for them it is the flow of time that counts, more than the space they happen to occupy: that space, after all, they fill but “for a moment”. (BAUMAN, p. 4, Liquid Modernity)
The Liquid Modernity corresponds to a society in a constant movement of change and degradation. Contemporary human beings live in a flow of constant instability and insecurity, which at any time all that was built, can be immediately solved. In Continuum we use the metaphor of the impossible meeting to represent the state of these human beings inside the Liquid Modernity and its constant state of instability and change.
The movement and dynamics present in the Liquid Modernity and its state of instability, uncertainty and constant change were the starting points of the movement research and the creation of the choreography. There is no secure place in the world of Continuum, just a constant dissolution of human expectations.
These states and qualities were the initial point for the creation of the movement material as well as the build up of the dramaturgy.
“ Continuum, was probably the most interesting, choreographically, of the evening, involving three people caught in a state of uncertainity and unpredictability as they moved, running about the stage barely making contact before picking up the tempo and eventually coming together in an embrace and handshake. The movement was quite naïve and undemanding, but there was a sense of urgency and paranoia to it which simply strengthened the choreographer´s impression of modern-day man´s conflict with daily life and its struggles. A well-concived idea by cologne-based Bianca Mendonca”. Dance Europe Magazine / October 2015 about Continuum in the Wilde Tendenzen Festival
Conntinnum was developed in the context of the platform for young choreographers Sprungbrett with support of Tanz NRW 15 and Pact Zollverein. Continuum is an artistic work directed and elaborated by Bianca Mendonça, created in collaboration with the performers Stefanie Schiwmmbeck, Nikos Konstantakis and Marília Silva with the dramaturgical support of Judith Owens. All images Foto©Ursula Kaufmann
