Mechanics of Distance  – performance, workshops and performative walk

Mechanics of Distance is a site-specific choreography nominated amongst the Aerowaves Priority Selection in 2020. In June 2022, Mechanics of Distance will appear in Warsaw in three scenes: performance, performative walk and workshops with choreographer Máté Mészáros – the creator of Mechanics of Distance.

Mechanics of Distance focuses on positioning static and moving bodies in space, cramming matching and mismatched systems into it and examining the distance between bodies. To illustrate this problem the choreographer’s tool is to find the right gesture, the translation of abstraction to the physical body.

Performance Mechanics of Distance is a site-specific choreography for three dancers and a musician to be performed in a public space, exhibition halls, lobbies, gardens, squares, etc. The audience follows the performers in the space at a proximity of their choice. Each time it is performed, the piece is adapted to the specific space and location. The performers from three very different backgrounds (a classically trained ballet dancer, a dancer with a folk dance background and a dancer trained with contemporary techniques) and the musician interfere with one another’s personal spaces so much that the recipient/spectator can make away from their usual urge/constraints for interpretation. The bodies place the dance in the perspective of fine arts by their plasticity, materiality.

Date: 25 June 2022, 7 PM

Location:  Szkoła,  ul. Emilii Plater 31, Warsaw

Tickets: https://goout.net/pl/bilety/mate-meszaros-mechanics-of-distance/xmln/

More: https://fb.me/e/4IJaGs15Z

Trailer:https://vimeo.com/340704161

Performative walk is the public space participative version of the choreography Mechanics of Distance. The movement series and constellations of the performance were translated into graphics by Balázs Fischer, visual artist. The drawings and the relating instructions can be found in this booklet. With the help of the booklet the participants of the 60-minutes walk can recreate the nine stages of the choreography themselves led by Máté Mészáros. The booklet offers the participants the chance to experience the walk by themselves – thus stepping into a quasi-performative role from the active viewing one.

The performative walk will be conducted in two rounds (17:30 and 19:30) according to two different routes. You can take part in one or both of the walks.

Location:  Szkoła, ul. Emilii Plater, 31

Tickets

1st walk https://goout.net/pl/bilety/spacer-performatywny-z-mate-meszaros/omln/

2nd walk https://goout.net/pl/bilety/spacer-performatywny-z-mate-meszaros/goln/

More: https://fb.me/e/4IJaGs15Z

Máté Mészáros will conduct contemporary dance workshops with partnering specialization for local dancers and dance enthusiasts. Máté telling about the workshop:

“We will have three hours of skill training – we will jump and roll and bend, learn skills that will help dancers to excel in any kind of dance that they endeavour.

The workshop will be mainly focused on partnering, but we will also be laying some useful bricks into the dancers’ set so that they can get closer to their own body and movement without stressing, exhausting it – which doesn’t mean that it will not be highly physical. My aim is that through the workshop we make our body more permeable, accessible while looking after our joints and nodes. We will concentrate on the physical side of movement – the action-reaction correlation of bodies, without any decorative, aesthetic attributes.

We’ll follow the motto by Forsythe: dance is organized falling.

And we’ll have a lot of fun, while experiencing our body attempting at something that we never thought would be possible.”

Date: 23 June 2022, 5-8 PM

Location:  Studio42, ul. Twarda 42, Warsaw

Tickets: https://goout.net/pl/bilety/warsztaty-mechanics-of-distance-z-mate-meszaros/anln/

More: https://fb.me/e/4IJaGs15Z

You can buy a ticket for all 3 events (walk, performance, workshops) for PLN 120.

Tickets: https://goout.net/pl/bilety/mechanics-of-distance-perform-europe-east-goes-to-east/xoln/

The performance, workshop and  performative walks are happening as part of the Perform Europe project East Goes to East. The partner of the project in Poland is the Association of Theater Pedagogues.

Perform Europe is an EU-funded project aimed to rethink how performing arts works are presented across borders in a more inclusive, sustainable and balanced way by testing new touring and distribution practices and providing policy recommendations for a future EU support scheme. This 18-month journey includes a research phase, launching a digital platform, testing a support scheme, and designing policy recommendations.

Perform Europe is funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union and co-managed by a Consortium of 5 organisations: IETM – International network for contemporary performing arts, the European Festivals Association (EFA), Circostrada, EDN – European Dancehouse Network, and IDEA Consult.

The project co-financed by the City of Warsaw.