Whispering the Sun
choreography: Inna Aslamova and dancers
dramaturgy: Joanna Leśnierowska
ethnomusicologist: Irena Katvitskaya
singer: Irena Katvitskaya / Irina Kotko
dance: Yauheniya Nikalaichuk, Volha Skvartsova, Beata Mysiak, Inna Aslamova, Agnieszka Sikorska
light: Siamion Davydzenka
sound and multimedia: Uladzimir Maliukou
costumes: Aliaksandra Anisim
“Whispering the Sun” is multidisciplinary project that combines ethnic traditions, contemporary dance, sound design, visual digital technology and interactive elements.
The project is a result of an artistic laboratory of the ethnomusicologist Irena Kotvitskaya and dancers. Irena shared with the team the results of her expeditions in the regions of Belarus in 1999-2010.
Through researching the intangible cultural heritage of Belarus and by identifying cultural codes, the artists integrated traditions of proto-Belarusians into contemporary art.
In this work the artists address the basic values understandable for everyone - connection to the nature, respect to the roots, gratitude to the surrounding world, - which made the project universally engaging.
Contemporary music, meeting the women’s-singing tradition leads spectators into the feeling of existence in the past and presence at the same time. Interactive elements in the performance offer the audience to be not a witness but a participant of the ritual. Uniting through a physical, emotional and spiritual experience people contribute to harmonization of the current situation in the World.
…Once upon a time The Universe had to arrive. And it did arrive in the highest level of energy and the lowest rate of entropy, and with a phenomenally high state of order. Then it started clumping into disorder - The Chaos, if you like. As it clumped, it fell apart into particles, those even into simpler elements, those into gas clouds, those into stars and hence into galaxies, planets, and ultimately –The Life itself arrived. Thus, how this eternal wave begun making everything in The Universe (stars, hot tea, our civilization, tidiness of our room and human life and ties) inevitably moving toward the decay. And yet, everything still does keep existing. Since ages we embrace The Chaos to reverse the vector of decay. Civilization seems a thin layer of ice upon ocean of darkness. And still, with hope to see The Light again, we never cease in dancing on it. With performance of WHISPERING THE SUN, we learn from our ancestors and call in all our dancing-singing-whispering powers to prevent yet another decay. When the world falls apart in front of our eyes and The Earth seems to madly improvise under our feet, we weave back precious tissue of human interrelations and move on into bold action. We unite in the new rite of passage: through the shadowed space in-between ‘no longer and not yet‘ - right into a dawn - and keeping each other tight to prevent losing ourselves in the transit. We connect in belief that art can bring Chaos back to The Order. Plaiting traces of traditional songs and gestures with various contemporary media, we call back to transformative power of dance. Thus, we open our hearts and clear minds and throw our bodies into waves as anchors. Like the bridges over trouble waters, in the name of our communities we lay down our bodies to create a safe passage. And we rise on the other side and dance to heal wounded energy of The Earth. As we mend the torn tissue of our hopes, we weave fabric of human relations to each other and Nature back to order. And thus, also we whisper The Sun back. Casting spells in belief that night is darkest just before The Dawn and in all chaos there is cosmos, in disorder a Secret Order inscribed, we embark on the journey to the roots and back. Knowing that though drifting on the sheet of ice, we still travel into The Light. And we never drop the belief to see it on the horizon. Joanna Leśnierowska
