Reviews

 INSERTS FROM REVIEWS

One should think the work by Yasmine Hugonnet in the context of French structuralism, post-structuralism and most of all, psychoanalysis. If philosophy puts the focus of the mind most of the time in the spot where something already “exists”, psychoanalysis on the other hand focuses on the spot where, according to a mind of a philosopher “nothing” exists. And this chiasm is what Yasmine Hugonnet tries to make visible in her performances (dramaturge Elise v. Bernstorff). To this end, she uses two methods: one is repetition (of fundamental dance structures) wherein the differences gradually arise, and the other is a mediated view, where the distinction between the subjective and the different ways of objectification is set, whereby the latter is – how very Foucauldian -  at the same time also the precondition of the subjectivization in the first place.

“One can also think the motif from the title, the “otherness”, strictly through the space itself (the inner yard of a museum) as some kind of a discursive order, the Law, which rules over the ways the body in it is being positioned (Lacanian Big Other), and at the same time, through the relationships in the group, the five subjects mutually recognize in each “other” the places of knowledge about oneself: repetition of gestures in this case represents what one can never catch because the subjects assume that they are lacking what constitutes them and what they recognize in the “other” as the “content” of the other (lacanian little a: object petit a). The interesting thing is that through this hunt to fill up the inner void, a structure arises, but which through repetitions gradually loses its initial significance and represents, more and more, the Law itself, the Big Other or in other words, the regime of choreography.”     
Rok Vevar: Drugi za drugi in drugi za sebe (The Other for the Other and the Other for Oneself). Večer 6.6. 2007

“While in her previous performance it was about reconstruction of the body through confrontation of direct physicality and its image, OF OTHER is about construction and performing of the collective body or rather, to quote the author »collective self«.
The movement of the performers, who use the lively architecture of the space, is pouring through mutual interactions, which is also the principle of the performance. Nevertheless, this has been done and researched already some 40 years ago by the dancers of the American group Judson Church, among whom especially Trisha Brown. Each specific deviation from the collective body, like when one of the performers runs towards the fountain or the house on the other side of the yard etc., causes the reaction in movement of the others, most of the time as a repetition or further development of a particular action.”    
Mojca Kumerdej: Kolektivno plesno telo (Collective Dance Body), Delo 6.6. 2007

“Performance OF OTHER further develops the concepts one can trace back to the previous two pieces, especially the fascination with mimicking of the body, which, in an experimental process, develops in various possibilities. It’s about exchanging or rather taking over the roles that range from manifesting themselves as static positions of the body up to expressive movements, which require a much higher internal identification with the subject that is being replicated.  In this performance, five dancers for the most part give up their individuality in order to participate in building of a collective body, which nevertheless continuously falls apart into particular entities, conscious of being united in a singular totality. This continuity of each other’s presence however, leaves possible different varieties of dispersion but which at the end always comes back to itself. Every departure from or return back to the group of one or more performers effects “the dance core”, which, in this mutual dependence ritual is thus permanently transforming. "

“The performers do not use their bodies in order to develop demanding choreographies and esthetic movements. Rather they explore their positions in space and in interactions with each other as well as with the audience, with whom they interact here and there through glass windows.  Their behavior is often times childlike, like when they roll on the floor or make faces, which reminds one of child’s plays. This culminates in a moment when all dancers take away their clothes and try to get dressed in cardboard boxes. This gesture also becomes a faceless and ultimate stripping off of any individuality.” 
Alja Bulič: Kaj o drugem vidijo oči za steklom (What Eyes Behind the Glass See In the Other), Radio študent, 4.6. 2007