Dance First. Think Later - An encounter between dance and visual arts

Vernissage: August 21, 6pm

Events and performances in collaboration with La Bâtie - Festival de Genève, ADC - Association pour la danse contemporaine, MAMCO, Musée d’art et d’histoire, Fête de la Danse Genève, Cinéma Spoutnik 

Participating artists 
Halil Altindere, Alexandra Bachzetsis & Julia Born, Pauline Boudry & Renate Lorenz, Alex Cecchetti, Dara Friedman, Clément Cogitore, Gerard & Kelly, Marie-Caroline Hominal, Lenio Kaklea, La Ribot, Pierre Leguillon, Xavier Le Roy, Klara Lidén, Melanie Manchot, Olivier Mosset & Jacob Kassay, Samuel Pajand + Lovesong(s), Christodoulos Panayiotou, Alexandra Pirici, Julien Prévieux, Marinella Senatore, Gregory Stauffer, Bárbara Wagner & Benjamin de Burca

Curator: Olivier Kaeser

Dance First. Think Later – An encounter between dance and visual arts explores an artistic realm on the intersection of dance and visual arts, two mutually nourishing fields, but which operate through very different modes of production and presentation. The project is a hybrid between an exhibition and a performance festival.

The artworks feature the human body, its movements, its gestures, their meanings and interpretations, through a wide range of approaches: conceptual, sensory, political, social, activist, playful, provocative, historical, and through questions of gender and identity. They refer to the history of choreography, to types of dance, to technologies, to architecture and urban context, to clothing or to scenography.

The title Dance first. Think later is inspired by a line from Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot, which became a slogan, pasted onto t-shirts or mugs and even used as the title for a book of rules to live by. The contrast between this mainstream usage and its original context opens a field for reflection on the relationship between "dancing" and "thinking." Dancing is both a ubiquitous, mass activity—a means of celebrating that everyone has access to—and at the same time, a rigorous, conceptual artistic discipline, a way to define the thinking body. 

Alongside a selection of existing works produced during the last 20 years, the exhibition will present new productions (Cecchetti, Hominal, La Ribot, Manchot, Pajand, Stauffer), site specific installations (Gerard & Kelly, Mosset & Kassay), as well as new versions of works (Gerard & Kelly, Leguillon, Le Roy, Pirici, Senatore).

An accompanying publication, available early 2021, will bring together essays and new texts on each artist, richly illustrated with images taken over the course of the exhibition.

Events and performances 
Friday, August 21: Lovesong(s), concert

Friday, August 21-Sunday, September 13: La Ribot, Pièce distinguée no.54, installation – performance – dance for 3 interpreters

Saturday, August 22-Tuesday, August 25: Lenio Kaklea, A Hand’s Turn, solo 

Tuesday, August 25-Thursday, August 27: Gregory Stauffer, Sitting, solo

Wednesday, August 26-Tuesday, August 30: Alexandra Pirici, Re-collection, ongoing action for 2 performers 

Friday, August 28-Sunday, August 30: Gerard & Kelly, Clockwork, performance for 2 dancers

Friday, August 28-Sunday August 30: Marie-Caroline Hominal, Fragments, sculpture activation 

Sunday, September 6 and Sunday, September 13: Christodoulos Panayiotou, Dying on Stage, lecture-performance 

Friday Septmeber 11: Film programme with Dara Friedman, Dancer; Gerard & Kelly, Schindler/Glass; Marie-Caroline Hominal, Le Triomphe de la renommée (film with performance); La Ribot, Mariachi 17; Barbara Wagner & Benjamin de Burca, Swinguerra

Saturday, September 12: Marinella Senatore, Parade Genève, involving dancers, musicians, performers, athletes, activists, a.o. in the historical city centre

Complete programme, venue information and updates on www.artasperto.ch  

Arta Sperto
Dance First. Think Later – An encounter between dance and visual arts is the first project organised and produced by Arta Sperto. It reflects two of this new venture’s major themes: to produce multi- and transdisciplinary projects and to operate without any fixed venue: in the public space, in nature, in unexpected locations, or shared between multiple institutions and cultural partners.