In this workshop, we will recruit warriors, assuming that this will result in better art.
We use the preparation of a fighter to prepare our artwork. We start from a state of physical challenge, drawing inspiration from martial arts and boxing training. We’ll work on physical condition, with gloves, with partners and we’ll prepare ourselves for some contest, the “pas de deux” of the ring.
Although we want to spend some time testing real combat techniques, our focus will be on the act of pursuing them, going through group training and appropriating it for our practice.
How can we use the preparation for a fight in the ring as a preparation for doing dance or art? What if the fighter’s preparation is an artistic process? We want to explore the possibility of exchanging physical disciplines as a tool for dancers, creators and creative people. In this spirit, we are also investigating the performativity of the collaboration that takes place between instructor and fighter, coach and student, personal trainer and client.
“Fear is the biggest obstacle to learning in any area, but particularly in boxing. For example, boxing is learned through repetition. If you practice it over and over again, you can master it… however, instead of trying to learn, if you get hit and hurt, it makes you cautious, and when you’re cautious, you can’t repeat it, and when you can’t repeat it, it will slow down the learning process…”
- Cus D’Amato, Mike Tyson’s trainer
In this workshop, we will transform our body into a weapon to serve our dreams.
Florentina Holzinger
She studied choreography at the School for New Dance Development (SNDO). Her final creation, “Silk”, was awarded the Prix Jardin d’Europe at the lmPulsTanz Festival 2012. She collaborated with Vincent Riebeek for a trilogy of pieces, “Kein Applaus für Scheiße”, “Spirit” and “Wellness” (2011-2013). Her second solo work premiered in 2015 - “Recovery” is an experimental consideration of a traumatic stage accident she suffered and critically explores through various types of female representation as well as the potential of female corporeality. Subsequently, Holzinger began to look to martial arts as a way of training for the life of an artist. Florentina is also co-author and performer of the “Body and Freedom” series, initiated by the Berliner Festspiele in 2016. In her most recent work, “Apollon” (2017), the Viennese choreographer hacks the genesis of a ballet of the same name by George Balanchine (1928). She is currently working at TANZ on an over-interpretation of the ballet Les Sylphides, a performance that will bring together a cast of professional actors and classically trained dancers. The work will premiere in October 2019 in Vienna. Under the new direction of René Pollesch of the Volksbuhne in Berlin, Florentina Holzinger will be a resident artist from 2019.
