Folklore (from the English ‘folk’, people, and ‘lore’, knowledge) is the set of collective productions emanating from a community of people and transmitted from one generation to another by oral means and by imitation. These popular arts and traditions, of course, include dance.
Function is beauty focuses on so-called ‘folkloric’ movements but also on movements that each of us perform individually and which also represent ‘folklore’.
In dance, we often learn techniques and ways of moving that already exist in an abstract, even post-modern, form. Modern dance, contemporary dance, Tanztheater have developed thanks to and in opposition to pre-existing dances such as baroque, classical, and folk dances. The connection to the root of exercises and movement styles usually completely eludes us.
To work on the links between dances, between our personal movements and existing dances and, more specifically, how to start from ‘ancient’ dances to make contemporary materials, is at the centre of this exploration. The workshop will consist of a warm-up, exercises, analysis of pre-existing dances, improvisations and compositions. It is aimed at professionals but also at amateurs who have had the opportunity to dive into different techniques.
The title of the workshop, Function is beauty, is not only a tribute to Marco’s friend and dance teacher Janet Panetta, who passed away in 2023, and who uttered this phrase during a debate on classical technique, but also a way of pointing out the importance of understanding where our movements come from, investigating their meanings and, in a way, their functions.
Marco Berrettini
