Between guided tour and dance: Experiencing the historical environment through site-specific performative practices

Abstract

The article examines the possibilities and specific features of site-specific dance as a tool to work with the history of a place and with individual memory. The material for analysis is comprised of the author’s own works created from 2017 to 2020 in Moscow. They are divided into three formats: dance guided tours which took place in the city center, “home laboratories” dedicated to typical housing and the space of participants’ own homes, and art research into the Basmanny district. The author considers these works as a form of performative research and seeks to combine the views of theoretician and practitioner, the positions of observer, author and participant. She analyzes how, in each case, work with the heritage is carried out, and how a place and its history are revealed through dance. She also compares the material with the genre of guided tours - the most popular site-specific way to get acquainted with the history of the city. As a result, the author demonstrates new opportunities which the appeal to corporeality can bring in addition to verbal communication. What parts of history can be “translated” into the language of dance and performance. And how, in comparison with the guided tour, the relationship of the participants with the place and with each other changes.