Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1000343
4 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 1 JULY 2018 THIS WEEK ART What led you to devise a piece of this nature, and how would you say it corresponds to your preoccupations and desires as contemporary dance-makers doing work in- Malta? We proposed this project to the Valletta 2018 Foundation following the launch of a new grant for emerging choreogra- phers. We tailored the themes and the process to the ques- tions and preoccupations that we wish to investigate. Our desire as dance-makers is to question and open up topics for reflection and debate. The themes we explore – small- island mentality, gossip, (self-) censorship and feminism – are all rooted in island life, and are themes that we feel need ex- pression and attention. What was the process of de- vising the piece like, and how did its themes solidify into the choreography? We have been working on this project for many months now, aiming to crystallise our sometimes very cerebral mus- ings into flesh and feathers. We have started from an interest and spent our time in rehears- al sexploring and embodying both abstract themes and spe- cific animal movement pat- terns. We are working through the medium of dance – col- laborating with Luke Cucciardi for music and Giulia Orsi for costumes – to complement the movement and to try and find a common language where all el- ements can interweave and bal- ance each other with simplicity and clarity. Do you think that female expressions are lacking in the field of contemporary art in Malta? If so, what would you attribute this to? Malta seems to have a very strong and versatile base of fe- male artists, both in the field of Performance Art as well as Fine Arts, that are creating work and claiming their space. Wedon't believe that the gen- der of the maker should be at the forefront of the produc- tion. Infact, our choreogra- phy questions the relevance of genitals on a sociocultural level (Penis!)In short, Malta should focus on all contempo- rary artists rather than just the female ones. What do you make of the dance scene in Malta? What would you change about it? The dance scene in Malta is quite small, and the contem- porary one is young and still somewhat unacknowledged by the general public, and as a re- sult, the difficulties that we feel Maltese artists encounter are Crystallising into flesh and Selected by a jury of international guests, a dance performance taking place tomorrow night will seek to challenge sexual taboos and gender norms. TEODOR RELJIC speaks to Marie-Kieser Nielsen and Francesca Zammit, choreographers behind the 'Cock and a Feather' segment of the performance Rehearsal shots from A Box, A Cock & A Feather. Photos by Jacob Sammut