listening – sound narratives of a dance

This work is an invitation to listen: a body, a dance, a landscape of shifting sounds and silences. It is a fluid exploration of dance and how it can be shaped and experienced if the focus lies not in the eye, but in the ear. How does what we see change, transform, become, appear, disappear or remain if we experience them through their sounds? It began through walks through a city and forests, where Sara noticed the effects of listening to the environment on her body: how she moves, is moved and connects and digests inner and outer worlds. This developed into a practice of listening to trees, waters, bodies and as a dance practitioner further to movement. She specifically deals with and listens to the historic, contemporary and mythological narratives and vocabulary of the dance practice Bharatanatyam. She explores the sonic aspects of dance, particularly the traditional ankle bells called salangai, as well as sollukattus, rhythmic syllables composed of onomatopoeic sounds. The work consists of a performance and also invites the audience to spend time in the "Listening Room" and its changing soundscapes. The audience is offered a homemade Rasam drink, a kind of digestive soup. The installation consists of audio recordings created during one year of working on this project. The Ryso print booklet gives fragmentary insights into the artistic research.