(Dissident) Dance Actions
2017
HD video, 17.10 mins colour/sound, 16 mm transferred to HD-video, 3.45 min bw/sound, pigment print on cotton voile, pigment print on cotton paper.
You are the stage, you act reality, there are no spectators.
Between 1971 and 1972, a radical group called Bøsseaktivisterna (The Gay Activists) performed a series of six dance actions in Copenhagen and Aarhus, as a protest against a discriminatory formulation in Danish law. The original law, which was written in 1683 and was still in place in 1971—72, could be interpreted as practically banning same-sex couples from dancing together in public space.
Based on archival material and interviews, (Dissident) Dance Actions, expresses feelings and movements—physical as well as political—through choreography. The work includes a short 16 mm film in which members of the Bøsseaktivisterna describe the intentions behind the dance protest. The footage is accompanied by another film, made in collaboration with the choreographer Dinis Machado (SE/PT), in which found movements from the archival material are reconstructed in six scenes.
(Dissident) Dance Actions centres a creative initiative in the struggle for equal rights and the ritual aspect of political demonstration as a form. It also highlights the artistic dilemma of re-staging an historical event: how much lives on in our memory, and how much is just speculation?
(Dissident) Dance Actions), installation view, Moderna Museet Malmö, 2018. Photo: Mike Karlsson Lundgren. (Dissident) Dance Actions No 1 of 6, film still. Cinematography: Melanie Aronson.(Dissident) Dance Actions, excerpts 2 mins (full length 17.10 mins), 2017. Cinematography: Melanie Aronson.Ephemera, flyer from the first dance actions. Pigment print on cotton paper. Installation view, Moderna Museet Malmö, 2018. Photo: Mike Karlsson Lundgren.Homofile (Bøsseaktivisterna, 1972, film still, 16 mm transferred to HD. Director: Peter Ringgard. Courtesy of Det Danske Filminstitut .Homofile (Bøsseaktivisterna, 1972, excerpt 3.45 mins,. Director: Peter Ringgard. Courtesy of Det Danske Filminstitut.Installation view, Moderna Museet Malmö, 2018. Photo: Mike Karlsson Lundgren.
Performers: Dinis Machado, Kristian Refslund, Yiorgios Pelagias. Choreography: Dinis Machado. Director and Editing: Conny Karlsson Lundgren. Cinematography: Melanie Aronson. Assistant Camera: Basel Mawlawi. Sound: Jesper Norda.
Special Thanks: Ole Kongsdal Jensen, Kristian Tofte Petersen. Andreas Nilsson.(Dissident) Dance Actions was commissioned by Moderna Museet Malmö for the exhibition Public Movement: On Art, Politics and Dance 2017—2018, in co-production with Inter Art Center, Skånes Dansteater and FAIR: Fabrikken Art Residency in Copenhagen.Exhibitions: Moderna Museet, Malmö SE. HfDK: Huset for Kunst og Design, Holstebro DK. Gallery Stills, Edinburgh Scotland. REX, Bern, Switzerland.
©MMXIV Conny Karlsson Lundgren