NIMk

A Piece Danced Alone - A performance by Alexandra Bachzetsis

image by Melanie Hofmann

After the succesful collaboration between SMART Project Space and the Netherlands Media Art Institute (NIMk) for Museumnight and Eternal Return, the statement exhibition by Gabriel Lester, the two institutes proudly present A Piece Danced Alone, a mesmerizing performance by Alexandra Bachzetsis. This open-ended series of solos, passed casually from one performer to another, is the artist's latest work and acts as a score for other dancers. It explores ideas surrounding originality and imitation as well as the failures and transgressions inherent to any interpretation: “Try again. Fail again. Fail better.” as Samuel Beckett famously put it.

This performance is brought to you on the occasion of the exhibition Yes, we’re open. The exhibition, with its perhaps cynical sounding title, ran at NIMk from June ‘till the end’ and played off the fact that the institute was putting up the shutters. NIMk seized the chance to deal substantively with the subject of openness in art: as a theme, in form and as a property. Further, in keeping with the concept, NIMk itself has 'opened up' in different ways at different locations. Organizing this performance at another venue is therefore not just reminiscent of the space at the Keizersgracht, but also honours the new presentation institute NASA.

A Piece Danced Alone confronts the audience with a series of micro-performances - each an interpretation of specifically formulated instructions - executed by two identically dressed performers who, learning and stealing dance moves from each other, exchange and gradually modify the elements of each choreography. While the performance starts with a sequence of deceptively simple, repetitive movements, the rules are gradually broken as the movements are traded back and forth between the performers. This allows the performance to change almost imperceptibly, yet irrevocably. Gestures and words are invented, enacted and ultimately released from their original meaning. Like in a hall of mirrors, the distinction between the original and the imitation slowly dissolves through infinite reflection.

Alexandra Bachzetsis (born 1974 in Zurich, CH) is an artist, performer and choreographer based in Zurich. After completing the Performance Education Program at the STUK arts Centre in Leuven (BE), she started her post-graduate education at Das Arts in Amsterdam (NL). Since 2001 she has been working independently as a choreographer and performance artist, producing and presenting her own work in theatres and exhibition venues across Europe. Her body of works constitutes an inquiry into genres of performing arts, the language of choreography and dance performance techniques. Her main interest lies in revealing and analyzing the codes that govern gestures, in everyday life as well as onstage.

For more information on Alexandra Bachzetsis or A Piece Danced Alone please visit: www.alexandrabachzetsis.com

This performance was made possible with the help of the Amsterdam Fund for the Arts (AFK)