"Human Zoo" or Dance as knowledge instrument

Cosmin Manolescu is a young Romanian choreographer, dancer and cultural manager who has initiated over the last few years a series of national and international projects with the help of DCM Foundation. Marie Gabrielle Rotie is a young British choreographer who runs the Buto London Network.

What is “Human Zoo?” It is a workshop run by two artists from different cultures. Last year, they attended together an international dance workshop organised by the Summer Theatre Festival in Hamburg. As they worked and danced together, they discovered that they shared many thoughts and ideas. Two months later, they decided that they should get together for a dance research project that they called “Human Zoo.”

The private and public life, their limitations, digital technology and daily routine are the areas that they will explore within this workshop in Bucharest. They are seconded by British video-director Steve Teers, specialised in digital technologies. The starting point for this introductory voyage will be the identification of behavioural differences between humans and animals. Marie Gabrielle and Cosmin will start with the primates’ behaviour, especially the captive animals. The question that troubles the two choreographers is “When are we free beings and when prisoners?”

Sometimes the cage we live in is of our own device – we have the talent to build elaborate prisons for the mind, other times the prison is imposed from outside. As humans, we are constantly under close watch and we, in turn, are watching others. We may do this involuntarily but when we no longer recognise certain boundaries we become exhibitionists. What does it mean to be the prisoner of looks fixed upon you; always being “on display” like the animals at the Zoo?

What mutations happen within our selves? How are they like those the animals undergo? These are but a few of the questions that “Human Zoo” is asking. The answers will be available within the show that will be presented to the audience towards the end of November.