Olia Sosnovskaya

Forms of politicization of dance and movement practices in the post-socialist contexts

In my artistic practice I explore the problematics of festivity, collectivity, affect and the political, working with movement and public space, rhythm, sound and silence, addressing social and political notions of various choreographic practices.

Within the PhD project I will study the forms of politizacion of dance and movement practices in the post-socialist contexts. In the Soviet history the movement of the body was highly politicized: from the Soviet avant garde performative artistic practices, biomechanics, to the state body politics (involving physical culture and production gymnastics) and mass celebrations (parades and mass ornaments). Throughout the years other forms of political and festive performative practices have developed within political protest, alternative music and dance scenes, which implied particular choreographies, spaces, agendas and body politics. I will revise such historical and contemporary cases. My aim is to define these specificities shaped by the contemporary social, economical and political conditions, and how those practices operate in contemporary post-socialist systems.

The main research question concerns the relations between the festivity and the political in case of those practices. This includes investigating the issues of production of power relations and affects, the analysis of choreographies, representations and embodied experience of the involved actors. One of the key concepts I will focus on within this topic are movement and stillness, and their politicality. For this I will both work with archival and documentary materials and to engage with members of the communities.

As part of my artistic method I would hold educational, leisure workshop-based activities, improvisation and movement research sessions. As well as editing of visual and textual materials.

Olia Sosnovskaya (born 1988 in Minsk, Belarus) is an artist, researcher and writer. She works with text, performative and visual practices, exploring the problematics of festivity, collectivity and affect; body, dance, gender and postcolonial studies; contemporary modes of work and leisure and their intersection. Member of the artistic-research group Problem Collective and co-founder of the WORK HARD! PLAY HARD! collective platform (www.workhardplay.pw).

www.oliasosnovskaya.com