DUNJA ZUPANĆIĆ & DRAGAN ŽIVADINOV
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DUNJA ZUPANĆIĆ & DRAGAN ŽIVADINOV
If choreography is writing with bodies in space, then his is the largestscale choreography ever. Dragan Živadinov from Ljubljana is the first artist in the history of space travel to be trained as a cosmonaut. In conditions of simulated zero-gravity, so-called parabolic flights, he is working on dances to be performed in the cosmos. With Praying Machine Noordung his earth-bound production for the Ljubljana Balet, he is also proving himself to be a maximalist, temporally as well as spatially. Živadinov plans to return to this pieces every few years with exactly the same troupe, replacing each member as he or she inevitably dies over the decades with a recording of music, until one day only concert remains on the earth. The cremated bodies of the departed will continue the choreography by orbiting the earth as satellite in suprematist-style urns. He has chosen the infinite vastness of space as an arena because only weightlessness can ensure eternal movement. The dance of the space urns will go on forever. This must be the most glorious monument ever created by dance in honour of itself. Arnd Wesemann Excerpt from: ballet-tanz, Yearbook 2001, Berlin 2002, p. 109 |