Blue Gestures: Gertrud Kraus archive reconstruction. (2020)

(left) Two channel screendance 3:40 minutes, sound, looping. (Right) Choreographic diagram - performance still construction, Chalk drawing, superimposed on xerox prints.

The multimedia installation explores the dynamic space that exists between the personal and sociocultural realms, as embodied in dance archives. It specifically focuses on the practice of restaging or translating historical dances as a means to investigate the sociopolitical aspects of creation. The installation serves as a tribute to Gertrude Kraus, an Austrian-Jewish modern dance pioneer and choreographer who worked in the expressionist style. Starting her career in the 1920s in Vienna, she gained recognition through her solo and group recitals across Central Europe. However, she was forced to flee Vienna in 1935 due to the rise of the Nazi party and the onset of World War II. She ultimately immigrated to Palestine.

In this work, I have revived fragments of Gertrude Kraus' creative knowledge through performative encounters and conceptual choreographic methods. Through these approaches, I aim to establish alternative relationships with the materials, movement, and meanings embedded within the dance archive.

Link to publication; WAYMARK; Introductory Essay: “Nine Artists of the Next Wave” by Tammer El-Sheikh