En–Knap, Via Negativa & Kristina Aleksova

Three Quarters of a Human

60 min

#available for touring

2024

Yvonne R. revisited her "No Manifesto" and adapted it after realising that its principles could obstruct the creative process. It was too radical - there should be no prohibitions in art. But the drive to achieve the impossible, to combine the incompatible and to represent the invisible is fundamental to creativity. And this tendency is inherently radical. I respect anyone who is willing to admit that they no longer understand what they once thought was important; that is how we learn and evolve. As Walt Whitman said:  “Do I contradict myself? Very well then I contradict myself, (I am large, I contain multitudes.)” The pervasive mediocrity in our everyday environment, culture and art calls for bold moves that push boundaries, even when these attempts seem impossible. Using the tools of pure dance and exploring the concept of choreography, the piece seeks to capture the beauty of radical thought through movement, exploring the constantly shifting boundary between the liberated and the constrained body.

A dance composition in three-quarter time.

I'm a ballerina. I repeat steps, sequences and combinations. I am a choreographer. I am always producing, but I never get to the end. I am a performer. I turn my head, move my arms, legs and torso. I am a body. I am always working, but I never do enough. I am the author. I step out from the line. I don't know if it's okay that I stepped to the left first. I find more and more movement when standing still, but there are three other possibilities. Forwards, backwards. Or even to the right.  I am a dancer - three quarters of a human. I count to three. I keep deciding, even if the decision keeps escaping me. I lift myself onto my toes. I go all the way to the bottom. I fight for every direction of movement, yet I keep spinning around my own axis. I gasp for breath, losing my balance and my strength. I arrange my thoughts into sets, rows, columns, repetitions, canons, and pauses. Order calms me and unsettles me at the same time. I am a person of discipline. In the pursuit of perfection, I chase the essence of my own imperfection, striving to catch the missing quarter. I believe in tradition - rules that keep us together. That’s why I take eight liberated bodies and arrange them into sets, rows, columns, repetitions, canons, and pauses. I strip them of the superfluous and expose them to harmony. A living wall of equality creates a balance between order and chaos.  Together we count to three. One. Two. Three. We stumble at the thought of four.  We bite again, and the thought always bites us back again. To blood and flesh. Because a step is never just a step. Because dancing is never just dancing. And the body is always just a body. 

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I am in search of a thought which traverses the human, and is more than human at the same time. Three Quarters of a Human was created as a reflection on the tensions I face as a dancer, choreographer and human being. The work is personal, born out of the repetitive, exhausting nature of performing, choreographing and everyday life. It expresses the frustration of “never doing enough”, while acknowledging that even stillness reveals new possibilities. In a time of radical constraints during corona, when the order we once knew had been shattered. Threat had become our new reality, replacing the familiarity of comfort. Three Quarters of a Human mirrors the feeling of constant negotiation, of balancing between rigid prohibitions and the need for a sense of freedom. Many of these ideas have been tested in the Via Negativa laboratory, which serves as a crucible for experimentation. There, the first steps for Three Quarters of a Human were formed. Later, in the process with the dancers of En–Knap, the focus shifted to the theme of submission – the exploration of how the body submits to external forces, yet still seeks liberation. In the end, Three Quarters of a Human brought together these various ideas and propositions to achieve a result which reflects the tension between order and chaos, discipline and freedom.

Kristina Aleksova

bio

Kristina Aleksova is a dancer, choreographer, author, and performer. She began her dance training at the Ljubljana Conservatory of Music and Ballet. After graduating in 2002, she joined the ensemble of SNG Opera and Ballet Ljubljana. In 2013, Kristina became a member of Tanzkompanie Graz but returned to SNG Opera and Ballet Ljubljana in 2014, where she continued performing ballet repertoire and creating choreography. During this period, she developed works such as Otroci z roba resničnosti and Globina (po)gleda. In 2017, she transitioned to working as a freelance artist, choreographer, dancer, and performer. She began developing her own projects within the Via Negativa Lab, resulting in works like Srce in Poljub. She remains actively involved with the Via Negativa association. In 2023, she participated as an artist in the Ventilator series by Zavod Sploh and began mentorship at the Performance Art Research Ljubljana (PARL).

credits

Concept and choreography Kristina Aleksova

Choreography assistant Anita Wach

Performed by Mattia Cason, Tina Habun, Davide Lafabiana, Tamás Tuza, Carolina Alessandra Valentini, Nika Zidar, Polett Kasza, Mateja Železnik

Original cast Núria Capella Florensa, Mattia Cason, Tina Habun, Davide Lafabiana, Tamás Tuza, Carolina Alessandra Valentini, Polett Kasza, Mateja Železnik

Music Eduardo Raon

Lighting design Špela Škulj

Artistic consultancy Anita Wach, Bojan Jablanovec

Photography Marcandrea

Video Sara Rman

 

Production En–Knap & Via Negativa

 

En–Knap Productions

Founder and artistic director Iztok Kovač

Managing director Marjeta Lavrič

Head of finance Julija Travančić

Executive producer Karmen Keržar

Communications strategist and editor Dražen Dragojević

Head of communications and creative content Valerija Intihar

Designer Marko Damiš

Programme organiser and coordinator Katja Gabrijelčič 

Technical coordinator Jaka Šimenc

Technical team Omar Ismail, Leon Curk, Hotimir Knific, Fabijan Purg, Gal Škrjanec Skaberne, Špela Škulj

The performance is based on a collaboration with Via Negativa Laboratori 2021/2022 and scenes by the dancers.

En–Knap Productions and Španski Borci Cultural Centre (managed by En–Knap Productions) are supported by: City of Ljubljana – Department of Culture, Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia

Via Negativa