Rasmus Ölme/Ulrika Berg

Self-movement

The history of the self is mostly immaterial. The body is our material existence but our self is symbolic. In dance this has also been seen throughout its history when the body has been used as a vehicle for representation of different symbolic narratives and belief systems. But dance can also be used to challenge this understanding if we approach the self from a different angle.

Our bodies are animate/ self-moving and the movement is present in our body before a subject – a self – is in place. The fact that the self-movement is present in our bodies prior to the self can allow for a reconsideration of the meaning of “self-expression”. The movement is already present in the body and does not need a symbolism in order to engage. We move before we have a purpose to do so. Instead of considering dance as an opportunity for a subject to self-express, we can understand dance as a material, animate body in auto-expression.

To dance departing from this approach to body and self is an activity that engages in the relation between thought, action, perception, imagination and sensation. The “between” of those elements is not only a negotiation in terms of relation, but also a place that is a space in which they become indistinguishable from each other.

Ulrika Berg and Rasmus Ölme will share the entire studio time, guiding some sessions together and some individually.