Kathleen Quinlan and Dancers: Hanna Blomqvist, Lilly Zetterberg, Amelie Borg

 

We cordially invite you to join us for a Saturday afternoon brimming with art, dance, and stimulating conversation. Our excitement knows no bounds as we welcome back Kathleen Quinlan and her dancers for a performance that beautifully complements Joanne Grüne-Yanoff's captivating exhibition, GRAVITY.

 

Prepare to be captivated by three solo dances, by the exceptionally talented professional dancers Hanna Blomqvist, Lilly Zetterberg, and Amelie Borg.

 

Before the performance, Kathleen will  provide us with concise synopses of the three dances scheduled to be performed. She will also shed light on her collaborative journey with In a Living Tradition, a union of dancers and musicians in an eternal harmony. Following the performance, Joanne Grüne-Yanoff will take the stage to share her personal reflections and delve into her artistic creations.

In Greek Mythology, Narcissus was a figure who fell in love with his own reflection. Isadora's 

interpretation invites you to venture into the forest, immersing yourself in the beauty of the trees, leaves, flowers, and grass. Amidst this natural splendor, you find a sense of contentment coexisting with the trees, while at the same time, aware of a separation from nature. You look into a pond and see the reflection of beautiful person. You realise that it is you. Conflicting emotions stir within you – is it wrong to acknowledge your own beauty? You pull away, and start to run wildly. The once enchanting forest is now a place of fear. Shadows morph into potential human figures or lurking bears, adding to your unease.

Frantic and unsettled, you begin to pace in circles, raising your eyes to the towering trees, their majesty reaching towards the sky. The leaves move gracefully in the wind, and the flowers grow from the nurturing earth. In this moment, a revelation unfolds—you, like the trees, leaves, and flowers, possess a unique beauty. You are equal - no better, no less. A profound sense of unity with nature envelops you, and you no longer feel separated. You are an integral part of nature.

 

This dance is a reconstruction of Isadora's original choreography and her other choreographic explorations of death. Isadora first danced this theme as an improvisational piece, later structuring it after the heart-wrenching death of her children. “I danced a creature who carries in her arms her dead, with slow hesitating steps, towards their final resting place. I danced the descent into the grave and finally, the spirit escaped from the imprisoning flesh and rising towards the light." This theme is repeated in Isadora´s later dances depicting war and death. In the middle of this dance, her spirit is released, to later come back to reality with anger, and, at the end, acceptance. This is a powerful piece and in it’s own way, very beautiful.

 

A dance of healing and looking ahead to the future. It is quite abstract. One could imagine that the dancer is creating it “in the moment”. I think of what Gordon Craig said about the first time he saw Isadora perform. “How is it we know she is speaking her own language? We know it, for we see her head, her hands, gently active as are her feet, her whole person. And if she is speaking, what is she saying? No one would ever be able to repair truly, yet no one present has a moment’s doubt. Only this can we say, that she was telling to the air the very things we long to hear ; and now we heard them and this sent us all into an unusal state of joy, and I sat still and speechless.”

 

Kathleen Quinlan comes from New York and was educated at the Boston Conservatory of Music, Boston Museum School of Art and S.U.N.Y. Purchase, and has been living in Stockholm since 1987. She was a soloist in Anna Sokolow's dance company in N.Y.C. and is foremost in the world in the Isadora Duncan tradition. Kathleen had a close friendship with Anna Duncan and also inherited Duncan's entire archive and belongings, which among other things enabled two exhibitions of Isadora Duncan for Dansmuseet Stockholm. As a choreographer, Kathleen has worked with dance, theater and Opera in New York and Paris. In Sweden and Denmark, she has toured with pianist Roland Pöntinen in a tribute to Isadora. Since 1989, she has collaborated with Ika Nord as a choreographer in her performances. Kathleen has also taught in Isadora Duncan's tradition at the Academy of Dance in Piteå, the Ballet Academy, and the Royal Swedish Ballet School.

 

“Choreographer Kathleen Quinlan handles humor and tenderness with subtlety. She has a stripped bare style, and hides behind an apparent simplicity and a very rigorous research of movement and expression.” Marie-Ann Lacour, DANSE CONSERVATORIE PARIS

More information on Kathleen Quinlan and The Isadorables can be seen on their website: http://www.inalivingtradition.com/ and Instagram account: @inalivingtradition.

 

Joanne Grüne-Yanoff is an interdisciplinary artist working across video, sound, sculpture, and textile. Her role expands further to include director and playwright, inventor and maker, storyteller and community builder. Through her practice, she works with various materials that perform and support her fascination with the innate realm of being. Cassandra is a part of this, a character who investigates contemplation and longing. Metaphorically, Cassandra embodies Grüne-Yanoff’s practice, that of a grounded being who looks up to the sky, thinking about flight. More information on Joanne Grüne-Yanoff’s exhibition can be seen by following this link:  https://www.galleriduerr.com/.../44-joanne.../overview/