by Katja Zellweger

In 2019, «COINCIDENCIA» Pro Helvetia is supporting for the third year the Ibero-American Network of Videodance, REDIV. This support enabled the holding of two annual meetings, the formation of thematic work groups, the achievement of its financial independence, and the cooperation between more than 20 festivals, collaborators and projects from Latin America and the Iberian Peninsula.

In addition to facilitating the development of works, REDIV enables and organizes video presentations, artists’ travels, and the dissemination of content, publications, workshops and artistic talks. In 2019, REDIV members will meet at festivals in Paraguay and Bolivia (see dates on the box). The plan is to discuss the creation of a new online platform and the implementation of a REDIV-Awards. As pointed out by Silvina Szperling, from the Argentine festival VideoDanzaBA and also REDIV’s communication coordinator, Latin American videodance, unlike in Europe, always had to be produced independently of public resources and television channels. 

«Today, the European avenues for the production and distribution of videodance have changed, so that more festivals and some networks are also coming up in Europe» 

Recently, REDIV has developed a project to curate choreography works, in collaboration with the Merce Cunningham Trust. The project «The key figure of screendance» is being presented in different formats: film, documentary, publishing and performance. The project can be seen at all the 24 associated festivals and also at FIVideodanza CDMX México, MUMVI México, Cuerpo Digital Bolivia and Spain’s VII Festival Fiver, which partners with the new BAC Madrid #0 (Bienal de las Artes del Cuerpo, Imagen y Movimiento de Madrid). This project has also been exhibited at the Agite y Sirva Festival, in Mexico, and at Crear en Libertad, in Paraguay.

In 2017 and 2018, Swiss choreographers Gilles Jobin and Jasmine Morand participated in the REDIV festivals invited by COINCIDENCIA/Pro Helvetia.

Next, an interview about networks, tours and videodance with the Swiss artist Nicole Seiler, guest of REDIV in 2019.

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Nicole Seiler, you are the guest artist of the Ibero-American Network of Videodance, REDIV, at the festivals Crear en Libertad, in Paraguay, and Cuerpo Digital, in Bolivia. How did you get to know the REDIV?

The choreographer Jasmine Morand suggested my name to REDIV. It is much more difficult for me to find an open communication channel when I get in touch from Switzerland with festivals that do not know me. I also went through this in other countries: after presenting my work somewhere [in the country], other invitations would come up.

To what extent do these networks benefit you as an artist?

The benefit is clear: with a whole network at your disposal, organizing a tour becomes easier. Now, for example, I was able to combine REDIV’s activities with a tour in Brazil, which was ideal. This is a big advantage, especially considering the climate issue. It makes it possible to be more efficient in the organization and also in the routes. Personally, I think three weeks is the minimum time for me to spend on a continent.

Do you know of any network similar to REDIV in Europe? 

In terms of videodance I don’t know of any similar network. Now, in the case of dance there are many festivals in Switzerland and in Europe, in general. This inclination to create networks has always existed.

What does video dance mean to you? 

The term «contemporary dance» is a very broad one for me.  . I see videodance as an artistic video that thematises a body moving in space. The camera, in my case, usually has very little movement, I see it as a fixed frame, a stage or a cutout. Even so, movement and body, and the abstraction of both have always been central to me. I believe I wouldn`t find it rich enough to create plays just for the stage. I use different media, public spaces, facilities, theatre, multimedia and audiowalks. Thus, videodance is a media that can be presented in completely different contexts. 

Besides an almost complete retrospective of your work in video, you are currently coordinating a workshop for REDIV. What is the theme of this workshop? 

In videodance work, we can see spectacular dances with all sorts of movement in them. The bodies, in their integral beauty, are enacted. But I’ve been interested, for quite a long time now, in what happens before, between and after the spectacular moments. This is why the workshop is called «inbetween». For three or four days we will experiment around this idea. Each participant will work on a video that they will present later. REDIV gives me the freedom to thematise what interests me. 

And what do these non-spectacular moments show? 

Tics of an artistic gymnastics athlete before they start a competition, for example. Or concentrated faces and bodies. When I am the instructor, everyone is well focused, even at the improv time. But as soon as I say, «enough for today», the faces and movements change. And it is these small, unspectacular moments that I find fascinating.