sunday 26.6., matinee 11 am, evening performance 9 pm, argekultur
additional date: saturday, 25.6., 9 pm, argekultur
most european artists working in the field of contemporary dance use a range of extreme emotions to express themselves, which makes the calm of padmini chettur’s work all the more exceptional: her dances rely on exactness, clarity of form, a feeling of total relaxation, and perfect control of the body. this control is hard-earned: chettur began the traditional indian dance style of bharatanatyam.
as a child and then spent nine years as a dancer in the famous choreographer chandralekha’s company. the sommerszene is proud to present the european premiere of chettur’s new solo dance, which attempts to redefine beauty in the context of movement in a theatrical space. using her precise intellect and and the presence of her body, she creates a work which is the “simple expression of a complex thought”, the creation of space to “scale down, slow down”, a call to resistance against the current political and economic climate, and quite simply a gorgeous dance.
QUESTIONS/ANSWERS:
szene salzburg is taking a major step in its summer program and is declaring sommerszene a “free festival“ from now on. this means we are not selling tickets anymore and are announcing the freedom of art being also the freedom of participation. this move and the discussion that is raised around it allows us a strong and basic communication to a wider public and to focus on the present and future role of the arts.
being the content of this festival we very much would like the artists to be part of this communication and help us to enrich the discussion with your statements. here are three questions that we’ve asked them and the answers:
what influential developments are you expecting in the upcoming future?
I have been sensing and seeing more and more the replacement of information for knowledge. The absencing of ‚body’ itself. Humanity and human communication are being replaced. Art is now, more than ever a medium of resistance. A space to scale down, slow down, to question economic constructs and thereby political ideologies. In India particularly, to avoid both the post-colonial rhetoric as well as the more convenient neo-imperialist structure. I think that it is not enough to think about art as being in the present or future, but to also consider the past.
what role should (will) the arts play?
In India In India, there are particular histories associated with ‚free’ performances. On the one hand, the traditional performances supported by rich patrons were free. Post independence the western cultural institutions brought very large, expensive performances to India that were free as they were subsidized by foreign governments. The entire ovement of ‚new’ art in India has always suffered as the Indian audience is often reluctant to pay to see art.
what chances does a free performing arts festival offer?
I don’t see the freedom of art and the freedom of participation as being synonymous. And especially, I can’t relate these definitions of ‚freedom’ as being connected to simply the price of tickets. Perhaps we are over-simplifying an extremely complex ,business’, which is what art is these days. I also wonder if a free festival festival will reduce even further the seriousness of audience engagement. Will we now equate art to free satellite television and You-Tube clips. Will it feed further our need for instant gratification and our inability to ‚value’?
