When the bodies speak

Trauma and memory work in dance performance Feathers

Abstract

The article explores the material interrelation in the dance performance Feathers, created by the small, independent theatre Upsala Circus located in Saint Petersburg. The socio-cultural circus project is led by Larisa Afanasyeva and refers to itself as a “Circus of Hooligans”. For more than two decades, it has been working with children that come from dysfunctional and marginalized families or have special needs. The performance is a memory work that uses a tightly woven canvas of bodies, props, and sounds to encourage the spectator to reflect on their own past. Relying on the concepts of scenographic materiality and kinaesthetic empathy, the article analyses how the dance performance strives to communicate what potentially lies beyond representation – trauma of others. The dance performance explores the possibility of the language of bodies, human and non-human, in exploration of the past, often forgotten, hidden, or suppressed. The article examines how different means of communication available to the dance performance influence affective and meaning-making processes in the experience of the spectator.