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Japanese dance
patriarchy
personal

In the traditional Japanese dance jiutamai, the dancers tell stories only through controlled body movements and gentle gestures. This ancient art is full of ambiguities: it is performed by stylized women in an intimate space with a hint of eroticism, but it gives the dancers, who often interpret stories about women's lives, the possibility of creative expression. Polish author Hana Umeda presents this dance from several perspectives: she criticises the Western, white gaze that orientalizes dancers and deprives them of their subjectivity, but at the same time she shares her own experience as a dancer dealing with issues of representing her own body that deviates from stereotypical ideals. It's up to you which of the perspectives you decide to listen to - at the end they all come together in an impressive performance in which Umeda goes to smash the patriarchy with a baseball bat.

Author: Hana Umeda, Dorota Sosnowska

Countries: Poland

Production year: 2023

Runtime: 25 min

Language: English

Control complexity: Simple Interactions

Motion sickness level: Low

Premiere status: Czech Premiere

Program section: VR Exhibition: Beyond the Glass Ceiling

Location in DOX: Area C (Ground Floor)