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W∞M

AndWhatBeside(s)Death

 
W∞M is a creation of the Belgian company AndWhatBeside(s)Death, who work with somatics, dance, intimacy and sensitivity. It aims to embody a journey backwards in time through the origin of our senses in utero, until the moment of conception and beyond. As they say:

“In W∞M we research the activity and reactivity of the senses, looking for the answer to a number of profound questions: how does the human being construct knowledge through sensory experiences? In what senses does one place most confidence? How do our senses relate to our freedom and limits our control? How do frames of thought decide between bliss and torture?”

In October 2015 W∞M was staged as a part of ATALAIA festival in Almodovar, southern Portugal. I worked in it as a dancer. The performance was a crossover mix between community art, somatic dance and outreach practices. It started out as a dancing procession of a group of disabled locals and continued in the church as a dialogue between the dancers’ inner journey through fetal development of sensuality and songs of a local choir; ending up in a shared dance between us dancers and the group with different abilities who performed in the procession.

The performance was conceived by Louise Chardon and Christine Sollie, music by Philippe Francois. Performing were Christine Sollie, Tuomas Laitinen, Minja Mertanen, Kjerstin Lysn, Stefanie Seguin & Louise Chardon.