Conditoned Bodies, a venture into the female experience.
Conditioned Bodies, a collaborative performance question the many ways in which the female body and mind are interfered with–socially, institutionally and privately. It is an unapologetic declaration of the unadulterated female form’s natural beauty, reclaiming the body as a territory free from external intrusion.
This production, with Tina Krüger, Thobile Makhoyane, and Edna Jaime joins video art, music and dance as an invitation to accompany the artists on this deeply emotional and spiritual journey of contemplation. The performance opens Thursday, August 15, 2019.
Tina Krüger is a Visual Anthropologist, Filmmaker, Video Artist, Photographer and Graphic Designer from northern Germany, who works and lives in Maputo, Mozambique. Her work, Living Art, 2017, received Best Feature at Women’s Only Entertainment Film Festival 2017. Edna Jaime is a Mozambican dancer and choreographer. In 2016 she won 1st prize of a contemporary dance competition in Maputo. Thobile, stage actress and dancer has performed in South Africa and Mozambique. She founded The Hand Made Voices, which celebrate collaborations by women in the Arts, to address social ills that educate, empower, uplift and entertain the community.
HAF: What is the run of the show?
Tina: For now, the performance will only show once at the Premiere on August 15 here in Maputo. This premiere is the result of a three-week-long artistic creation residency. From there, we want to further develop and go more in-depth with our creation, and take it to other countries abroad as well.
HAF: How do you wish this performance/production to incite change?
Tina: It lives off different emotions and moods in each scene. It is paired with a strong conceptual background supporting our questioning around different topics related to how women’s bodies are interfered with. My hope is that it provokes a genuine reaction in our audience. They may love it. They may also hate it. For me, as long as it sparks reflection about the topics we are addressing, I will be more than happy. I think that will be where it can start a much-needed conversation.
HAF: How will your video component contribute to this production?
Tina: The beauty of this collaboration is that none of our artistic expressions serves as a background or support for the other. Usually what we see here in Maputo, is a scenario of music and video being the background for let’s say contemporary dance. With Conditioned Bodies, we are integrating video, music, and dance into one coherent narrative where all the different parts interact with and feed the others. The way in which my video art is structured in this performance, it creates a multilayered scenery on stage for the dancer to interact with and ‘live in’. There are also live components that allow interacting directly with the musician throughout our performance. I am especially excited about this part because it is also a new terrain for me.