These two dance solos originate in a sensation of shaky ground. Tatiana Chizhikova takes steps with the hesitation of someone who is used to being grounded with roots deep in the soil. Her feet never completely touch the floor and her movements are crooked. Katya Volkova, in contrast, seems to be charmed with repetitive steps that develop into house dance sequences. With her dance she sets up a new territory of connections.
Tatiana Chizhikova usually finds a solid and condensed choreographic form for her works while their emotional content is complex and highly charged. In her new solo performance she works with a simple found object, a stick. Using it she explores detailed movement around the theme of being rooted, being grounded, or being uprooted and displaced. Tatiana Chizhikova says, “I chose a dry stick, it used to be a branch of some tree. I was fascinated with that arboreal ability to hold onto, and grow deep into the soil with roots. Moreover, the stick was sort of a metaphor for this ability, and this live root movement in me. But as I rehearsed in the studio, a contradictory thought emerged: the stick is dry, and it would never again be filled with life. Moving with it, I felt its fragility, its inflexibility. Any applied force would break it. In our duet, I was the one who was alive. I clearly felt my ability to change, to feel, to see, to choose. I am the root, the one from which shoots shall grow.”
In this piece Katya Volkova moves into “house dance”, a street dance style with remarkable footwork techniques. House dance style belongs to the club culture of the 1990s, but it is clearly rooted in the steps and hops of traditional African dances, in collective experiences of rhythm, and the shared space of ritual. Community is one of the central topics for Katya’s artistic research. She transfers her interest in the sociality and communal involvement of street dance, which she has long practiced, into a contemporary dance context that is often skeptical about big affirmative narratives. In her piece she constantly balances between the routines of "real work," and the subversion of the very idea of working, between being together and yet being an alienated solo dancer. Eventually, the stage transforms into a dance floor that is open to everybody, and this transition may feel like a challenge to the audience: Shall we invest our emotional and physical efforts? Is it work worth doing?
Tatiana Chizhikova usually finds a solid and condensed choreographic form for her works while their emotional content is complex and highly charged. In her new solo performance she works with a simple found object, a stick. Using it she explores detailed movement around the theme of being rooted, being grounded, or being uprooted and displaced. Tatiana Chizhikova says, “I chose a dry stick, it used to be a branch of some tree. I was fascinated with that arboreal ability to hold onto, and grow deep into the soil with roots. Moreover, the stick was sort of a metaphor for this ability, and this live root movement in me. But as I rehearsed in the studio, a contradictory thought emerged: the stick is dry, and it would never again be filled with life. Moving with it, I felt its fragility, its inflexibility. Any applied force would break it. In our duet, I was the one who was alive. I clearly felt my ability to change, to feel, to see, to choose. I am the root, the one from which shoots shall grow.”
In this piece Katya Volkova moves into “house dance”, a street dance style with remarkable footwork techniques. House dance style belongs to the club culture of the 1990s, but it is clearly rooted in the steps and hops of traditional African dances, in collective experiences of rhythm, and the shared space of ritual. Community is one of the central topics for Katya’s artistic research. She transfers her interest in the sociality and communal involvement of street dance, which she has long practiced, into a contemporary dance context that is often skeptical about big affirmative narratives. In her piece she constantly balances between the routines of "real work," and the subversion of the very idea of working, between being together and yet being an alienated solo dancer. Eventually, the stage transforms into a dance floor that is open to everybody, and this transition may feel like a challenge to the audience: Shall we invest our emotional and physical efforts? Is it work worth doing?
TUMBLEWEED
Choreography and Performance:
Tatiana Chizhikova
Music: Roman Kutnov
IN DA CHAOS
Choreography and Performance:
Katya Volkova
Sound design: Ada Laub
Program curator:
Anastasia Proshutinskaya
Production: Site Art Projects
Supported by: AFF Projects
Choreography and Performance:
Tatiana Chizhikova
Music: Roman Kutnov
IN DA CHAOS
Choreography and Performance:
Katya Volkova
Sound design: Ada Laub
Program curator:
Anastasia Proshutinskaya
Production: Site Art Projects
Supported by: AFF Projects
Tatiana graduated from the Moscow Choreographic Lyceum as a ballet dancer, and from the Moscow State Academy of Choreography with a BA in Art of Choreography. Tatiana also graduated from SOTA (School of Theater Arts), an educational program for performance art organized by the Institute of Theatre in Moscow. In 2019, she won the [8:tension] Young Choreographers' Award at ImPulsTanz, the Vienna International Dance Festival, with her performance “Time to Time.
TATIANA CHIZHIKOVA
dancer, choreographer
dancer, choreographer
Katya holds an MFA degree in Sound Art and Sound Studies at HSE (Moscow). Her dance training first took an informal path that included street styles and contemporary dance workshops; then in 2016 she graduated from SOTA (Mosсow). In 2023 she was selected to ATLAS – a training programme for dance creators in the frame of the ImPulsTanz Festival (Vienna). Since 2016 Katya has worked independently, as well as in various collaborations. Her performances have been shown at Kleine Humbolt Galerie (Berlin), Faki International Festival of Performance Art (Zagreb), Darağaç Art Center (Izmir), My Wild Flag! Festival (Stockholm), Suoja/Shelter Festival (Helsinki), HELLERAU Europäisches Zentrum der Künste (Dresden).
KATYA VOLKOVA
interdisciplinary artist,
choreographer, dancer
interdisciplinary artist,
choreographer, dancer