Paper: Hannah Ma (Luxembourg, Germany) with respondents Nai Ni Chen (New Jersey, USA) and Nora Amin (Cairo, Egypt)
– Session and Q&A facilitated by Lliane Loots (Durban, SA)
“The body is the zero point of the world. The place where paths and spaces cross the body itself is nowhere, it is the tiny utopian core at the centre of the world.”
– A quote from Michele Foucault “The utopian body” in “Sensorium. Embodied experience, technology, and contemporary art” (Edited by Caroline A. Jones, Cambridge, MA. The MITpress 2006 pp. 232-233)
If we continue this line of thought and see the body that way, intimacy is the space where I can share that “no-whereness” with someone else. We can be a point zero in space and time together. This is not a productive state of being, when you look at it through the lens of globalisation. Since it means that we would free ourselves from a system of productivity and exploitation. This is why intimacy becomes something so fragile. Nowadays, intimacy is the space where we can find our true selves. But political and rational decision making is having a big impact on us. Intimacy means to see where our society is at the moment. All these abusive situations, all the hurt intimacies are a result of us not being sensible enough anymore to intimacy not our own or others. I would like to assert an imperative: Refining and redefining intimacy! Everyone for themselves …
Hannah Ma is a German Chinese Choreographer. She splits her choreographic directions into: “Taming Monsters” and “Transformances”, reflecting on socio-economic problems, as well as sexuality, gender and race. She uses a creative mixture of dance and theatre elements to create her choreographic language, as her focus lies on contemporary rituals and the translation of archaic roots in society. Hannah is and has been working with many establishments such as Théâtre National Luxemburg, Dachverband Tanz Deutschland, Choreographic Center Luxemburg and many more.
Nai-Ni Chen leads one of the few touring Asian American dance companies in the United States. A cross-cultural choreographer who aims to bring the audience across boundaries, her unique choreographic styles reflect the grace and splendour of the cultures she studied in Taiwan, and the dynamic spirit of modern and contemporary dance she acquired in New York. Coming from a rich dance tradition, Nai-Ni Chen was a renowned traditional dancer in Taiwan and served on several ambassadorial culture missions to 19 countries around the world. She was also an early member of the Cloud Gate Dance Theatre. Since the inception of her Company, Ms. Chen has created a rich and wide-ranging repertory, collaborating with a diverse group of musicians, artists, and cultural bearers.
Nora Amin is a performer, choreographer, author, theatre director and scholar/researcher/lecturer. Fellow of the centre for Theatre of the Oppressed (Brazil, 2003), founder of Lamusica Independent Theatre group (Egypt, 2000) where she choreographed, directed & produced 40 performances of dance, theatre & music. Founder of The Nation-wide Egyptian Project for Theatre of the Oppressed and its Arab network (Lebanon, Sudan & Morocco), fellow of the Academy of the Arts of the World (Cologne, 2015), fellow of the International Research Centre for Interweaving Performance Cultures (FU, 2015-2016), Valeska-Gert guest professor for dance sciences (FU, 2018), visiting lecturer at the centre for contemporary dance (Köln, 2020), workshop instructor at Tanzfabrik (2019-2021), at Berlin Mondiale (Wasserwerk program, 2020-2021), and Mentor at PAP (Performing Arts Program/ Berlin-LAFT) and Flausen+bundesnetzwerk program. Her latest book is “Dance of the Persecuted”, a feminist perspective on the history of Baladi dance in Egypt linking coloniality with patriarchy and capitalism, published by MSB Matthes & Seitz, 2021.