LifeStrings: Screendance Work Used to Explore Climate Justice, Cultural Trauma, and Roma History

This presentation discusses LifeStrings, a six minute screendance piece designed to open up a conversation on the potentiality that exists when dance and technology come together to explore the global crisis. LifeStrings is a screendance film that investigates climate justice, violins and motherhood using a contemporary flamenco dance vocabulary. Reflecting on traditional Flamenco dance rhythms, techniques, gestures and modes of transmission, the work asks questions about what we copy and imitate and what we disrupt and let go of in terms of traditions. The film is using a choreographic lens to navigate cultural and generational trauma while also relying on the dancing body to reveal embodied histories and practices. The work is underpinned by Roman Krznaric (2020) generational thinking around being a ‘good ancestor’. During this presentation people will be invited to respond to the performance piece using movement, text or drawing. The dialogic workshop presentation will build on egalitarian and ethical care principles. The facilitator, Cisneros, an artist-researcher-filmmaker from the Roma community will hold a space of inclusion built on love and kindness. The screendance work is underpinned by Roma studies, flamenco dance history (RomArchive, Goldberg et al, 2022) and the resulting workshop builds on Communicative Methodology (Gómez et al. 2013; Aiello et al. 2013; Flecha and Soler 2014; Puigvert et al. 2012; Gómez, Puigvert and Flecha 2011; Gómez et al. 2019).