Dana Michel masters the art of diverting the functions of objects, creating situations with an elusive logic. Everything in her approach escapes binarity or linearity; she deconstructs normative behaviour and favours absurdity over provocation. In short, she questions the modes of existence with humour and depth.
After her successful CUTLASS SPRING (2019), she returns to Brussels, as part of Kunstenfestivaldesarts, for her most ambitious solo performance yet. For this, she started with a question: if we cannot be ourselves at work, where we spend most of our lives – what kind of lives are we living? To find an answer, she creates a meditation on the work environment, transforming daily actions into choreographic experiments. Yet every action is interrupted, seemingly losing its fluidity, as if her body has become imprisoned by routine repetition.
During a three-hour performance set in the wide open space of MAD, Dana Michel retraces the aesthetics of an entire day's work. Her incredible presence hovers between tragic and comic, signing a choreographic performance that sharply addresses work-life balance. We watch as the automatism of our daily actions seems to get stuck, only to become something else.
ABOUT Kunstenfestivaldesarts
Theatre, dance, performance and visual arts: Kunstenfestivaldesarts is a celebration of international contemporary creation. From 11 May to 3 June 2023, it invites artists both local and international to challenge our understanding of the world and present their bold artistic creations in some thirty cultural venues and public spaces in Brussels.
© Carla Schleiffer