body of work: fly to fly, fly to girl

bbbbbbzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzbzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzbzzzzzzzzzzzzz. fly to fly, fly to girl is a choreographic work that hovers between and is complicated through the genres of nature documentary, dance, writing and biology lecture, following my longtime interest in scales and multispecies thinking. fly to fly, fly to girls is the title of my degree project and the container / body that brings together my artistic work developed over two years within the Master's program in Choreography at SKH.

I am an amalgam of microbiome and microplastic. The research investigates the relationality between animal / human / more-than-human through dance and graphic design practices. What if choreography were a fly? My choreographic work is influenced by the biology of flies and alterations of proportions and scale. Movement and design have in common that I meet them through micro-choreographies. I peel away layer after layer of thin wings to magnify minute details. I focus on the microscopic, expanding from there to the macroscopic. I tune my ears to the buzzing of a fly and roll my eyes upside down. 

In my work, I inconspicuously and ridiculously welcome presumed behavioural patterns of flies, such as distraction, disturbance, nuisance, disgust or noise, with a dancing body. I create characters that are half fly and half girl, with anthropomorphic traits. What does it mean to be in one's nature? The figures hover in a habitat whose definition is constantly changing. Who inhabits and shares this place / body / dance? In the blur between animal and human, I explore desire as the driving force at the heart of the characters’ shared and lived materiality.

I am a sensuous organ composed of parasite and symbiont. From an anthropocentric perspective, flies are considered unpleasant parasites. Their bodies are perceived as undesirable. Ethics of relationality are often limited to animals with which humans have a close relationship, such as domestic animals, “companion species” (Haraway), or animals we eat with which we feel a kinship. I consider whether thinking alongside multispecies can help rethink the relational process of becoming that goes beyond abjection. I engage with kinship beyond ownership, with desire beyond the undesirable, with hosts, guests and parasites. I love working with subtle humor as a tool and methodology that bends, confuses, and disrupts dance, writing, and performing, and I approach humor with a sincere and serious performativity.

Throughout the two years of study; fly to fly, fly to girl became and grew into many dances. fly to fly, fly to girl is a nature documentary. It is a publication about the size of a finger, with text about the size of half a linseed. And, it is a ballet that tells the story of two insects maneuvering between love and death. fly to fly, fly to girl is not a theatre, but plays with theatricality, is sometimes humorous, is pretentious and serious. fly to fly, fly to girl desires to be shared with many ears and eyes.