Moving in November is inviting professional dancers and movement practitioners to participate in a two-day workshop lead by Swedish choreographer Pontus Pettersson in the frame of his upcoming choreographic installation and performance Pancor Poetics, that will take place in this year’s Moving in November Festival.
Over these two days, Pontus will open up his practice to host the different methods and practices that are part of the work Pancor Poetics, including one of his seminal pieces The Cat Practice. As simple as it sounds, it involves practicing being a cat.
In the workshop, participants will transition from Cat Practice to poetry writing, then to dancing, exploring how these practices inform each other, the different embodiments they create, and various modes of listening and being together.
About The Cat Practice and Pontus Petterson
Since 2012 Pontus has been developing a performative and physiological practice informed by the cat, seen as a body that is neither human nor alien. The cat acts as a companion, friend, witness, and shadow to the human, shaping these specific relations. The Cat Practice produces a specific attention and presence in the performer, as well as a rewriting of the gaze and the politics of attention. The now stands in power, not as an infinite, but as radical shifts of focus and intention. The practice has existed in many of Pontus works and in different formats, most recently as a performance at the very first Vilnius Performance Biennial 2023 and as part of Pancor Poetics at Shedhalle in Zurich.
Pontus Pettersson is a Swedish choreographer, artist, dancer, and curator based in Stockholm. By applying choreographic principles to all his works and projects, Pontus creates a variety of artistic expressions, ranging from large-scale installations and poetry to small objects, Cat Practice, and dance. Pontus is also the initiator and curator of the participatory, movement- and publicationbased platform Delta, alongside Izabella Borzecka, and a co-founder of the annual dance and performance festival My Wild Flag, together with Karina Sarkissova.
When and Where? How to participate?
The workshop takes place on August 10th and 11th between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m., in the community space of Pihlajamäki Church (Liusketie 1, 00710 Helsinki).
The workshop will end with a small showing on Sunday 11th from 5 p.m.-6 p.m.
The workshop addresses professional dancers and movement practitioners. We encourage you to join, when having an extra interest and experience in interspecies relations and theory, queer aesthetics and concerns and/or poetry.
The workshop can open up the possibility to join as a performer, into the choreographic installation and performance, that Pontus is preparing for Moving in November this year.
The participation is free of charge.
If you like to take part, please fill in this questionnaire until June 27th.
Photo: Nemo Hinders Stocklassa
