Every Body Electric
“The different performers are working towards opening up their physical potentials. As the process develops, I realise more and more that even very small movements can be vehement. Normative perceptions and conceptions of energy and power are destabilised, shaken up.” Doris Uhlich
After the duet Ravemachine, Doris Uhlich creates individual and communal “forms of energy dance” in this ensemble piece for people with physical impairments. Every body has specific abilities to articulate its dynamism and its carnal pleasure. The movements themselves allow the body to charge itself up, acting as a kind of fuel produced naturally in the body. Every Body Electric is a radical invitation to explore potentials through the medium of dance, to make them visible and delve deep into an archaeology of energy. What else becomes possible if machines – such as wheelchairs, prostheses, crutches – are not perceived as obstacles but as extensions of the body and are also staged as such? Personal rhythms, dynamics, beats and physical characteristics result in very individual dance styles. Ultimately, the topical relevance of Every Body Electric but also its poetry, oscillating between gentle and forceful, lie in the way it alters both the self-awareness and the perception of these bodies.
studied contemporary dance education at Konservatorium Wien University and has been developing her own projects since 2006. Her work frequently focuses on examining everyday gestures but also artificial gestures, such as the strict code of movement of classical ballet in SPITZE (2008) and Come Back (2012). All her performances are investigations of beauty ideals and standards of body image, as in mehr als genug (2009), for example.
Since her piece more than naked (2013) Doris Uhlich has also been examining the depiction of nudity free from ideology and provocation. Music, particularly rave music, plays an important role in her explorations. Most recently, she presented a naked ensemble rave-dancing at the Order of Friars Minor Conventual church in Krems and in front of the Vienna Secession in the scope of ImPulsTanz. Doris Uhlich and dancer Michael Turinsky have recently won the Nestroy Special Award “for inclusion on an equal footing” for the performance Ravemachine (2016).
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