Of all the artistic achievements that Russia has contributed to European and American culture perhaps the most original and most enduring is that of modern dance. The spectacle and inventiveness of Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, for example, still evoke astonishment and delight and are the frequent subject of research and reconstruction. But for all their mobility and versatility, the Ballets Russes, based in Paris and Monte Carlo, never performed in Russia and it is now becoming increasingly clear that, parallel to "Sacre du Printemps" and "Les Noces", there was another, alternative, and highly experimental kind of dance evolving in Moscow during the 1910s and 1920s: informed by Duncan, Jaques-Dalcroze, and Delsartre, avant-garde Russian dance tested audacious ideas in the same revolutionary laboratory that witnessed Kandinsky, Maiakovsky, Malevich, Meierkhol'd, and Prokofiev. The "Palaia Dance Project" (PDP), which occurred late May, 2003, in Palaia, Italy, was devoted to the study of this other tradition.

     Under the immediate auspices of the Institute of Modern Russian Culture (IMRC) (www.usc.edu./dept/LAS/IMRC) at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles (USC), the symposium and workshop, PDP brought together a group of specially invited choreographers, dancers, and scholars in order to conduct a theoretical and practical expedition into the development of 20th century Russian dance. By concentrating on the genesis and development of what is now called "modern" or "abstract" dance, the collective reexamined the dynamic heritage of the Russian art of movement, especially as it manifested itself in the 1920s in the wake of the October Revolution. Southern California (especially USC and UCLA) is rich in the professional and documentary resources essential to such an expedition and full use will be made of them. The proceedings were  published in a special issue of Experiment, journal of the Institute of Modern Russian Culture, Los Angeles

     The symposium and workshop was divided into two integrative parts, one "theoretical", the other "practical". For the scholarly symposium each of the specialists delivered a paper on a preassigned topic (e.g., on Constructivism; or on the relationship between modern dance and time and motion studies; or on the parallels between abstract painting and abstract dance). For the physical workshop a choreographer and a group of five dancers finalized, rehearsed, and performed movements and dance pieces that conformed to the general topic of the meeting and concluded with the premiere of a new and experimental dance production to be viewed by the invited specialists and a general audience in Florence.
The team met for three days of intense discussion and three days of practical experiment and interaction (see attached schedule) in artistic movement, based on original transcriptions, documents, photographs, movies, and other archival sources; and, of course, the resulting production and performance were informed by the proposals, observations, and conclusions of the seminar papers. In other words, the dancers were testing, interpreting, and challenging the research of the intellectual debate adjusting it to their own restoration of revolutionary dance and their vision of modern ballet. A special issue of Experiment  (vol. 10, Fall, 2004) published the transactions and observations of the workshop.

The purpose of the PDP was to discuss the Russian avant-garde and then to design, choreograph and produce a dance performance, “Seven by Five” that both reflected and enhanced the dynamic concepts of vision and movement elaborated in Moscow in the 1910s and 1920s. This production will consist of two sections: reconstructions of choreographies by Goleizovsky and Balanchine and a new, experimental dance sequence called “Moto-Bio”.

Co-sponsored by the Fondazione Pontedera Teatro, “Seven by Five” were given publicly for the Festival “Tendopolis” at the Fabbrica Europa, Stazione Leopolda, Florence, on 29 May, 2003, at 19.00. The Fabbrica Europa supports new dance, theater, and music productions every summer and is now recognized as being one of Europe's primary laboratories for experimental performance.

 

CONTACT INFORMATION:

The Festival Fabbrica Europa, "Tendopolis" took place at the Stazione Leopolda, Albizi 14, 50122 Firenze, Italy.
Tel.: (390) (55) 2480515; 2638480
Fax: (390) (55) 2479757
e-mail: fabbrica.europa@firenze.net
website: www.fabbricaeuropa.net

For general information visit the IMRC website (www.usc.edu./dept/LAS/IMRC/pdp), e-mail the IMRC at: imrc@usc.edu or e-mail the Fandzaione PontederaTeatro at
ufficiostampa@generazionifestival.com

You can also call the IMRC at: (213) 740-2735, or write to:

FONDAZIONE PONTEDERA TEATRO
via Manzoni 22, 56025 Pontedera (PI)
tel. +39.0587.55720 / 57034
fax +39.0587.213631

teatro@pontederateatro.it
www.pontederateatro.it