The production “Desire to make a solid history will end up in failure” by choreographer Igor Koruga is a project by the independent dance and cultural advocacy organisation Station service for contemporary dance. It premiered at the 2023 edition of its annual Kondenz Contemporary Dance and Performance Festival in Belgrade.
The starting point for the project was the question: ‘How can archiving dance become an artistic practice?’ Koruga’s explorations led to a transgenerational exchange with six former dancers and performers, who now primarily work as choreographers and directors in the local independent dance scene: Nela Antonović, Anđelija Todorović, Jelena Jović, Tanja Pajović, Boris Čakširan and Sanja Krsmanović Tasić. Together, these six artists create an “archive in motion”, embodying movements, experiences, memories and oral histories from the many artistic works they created during their long careers, which remain insufficiently documented and are in danger of being forgotten – especially at a time when there is no official institutional framework for archiving the local dance scene.
By questioning the physical, social, emotional, economic, ideological, and other (mostly invisible) vulnerabilities behind their cultural and artistic work, they also re-examine the tactics, principles, (re)positioning, and contradictions of their survival and resilience as a form of resistance, criticism, and solidarity amidst the turbulent socio-political circumstances of the past forty years.
What do their bodies reveal and conceal? How does the impermanence of the archive reflect the impermanence of the dance itself? How does independent dance endure as a relevant social, cultural, and political tool for reshaping the social body? The attempt to create a definitive history will undoubtedly fail. The only question is, for whom?
A full video of the production (with English subtitles) is available to watch here.
Co-Funded by the Creative Europe programme of the European Union as part of Dance On, Pass On, Dream On
Authorship and choreography: Igor Koruga
Performers: Nela Antonović, Anđelija Todorović, Jelena Jović, Tatjana Pajović, Boris Čakširan, and Sanja Krsmanović Tasić;
Dramaturgy: Milica Ivić
Composition: Luka Mejdžor
Spinning dress design and wig making: Boris Čakširan
Lighting design: Boris Butorac
Coordination: Marko Pejović, Filip Perić
Production: Marijana Cvetković
Graphic design: Mane Radmanović
PR: CommunicArt
Photos: Vladimir Opsenica
Video documentation: Nemanja Stojanović
Translation: Nevena Delić
Production: Stanica Service for contemporary dance
with the support of the Dance On, Pass On, Dream On project,
the Creative Europe program and the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Serbia
Partners: Cultural Center Magacin, Bitef Theater
