DIPTYCH: THE HISTORICAL PRESENT
is a solo evening composed of two acts reflecting on womanhood. The evening-length work was envisioned as two contrasting parts, existing alongside and in conversation with one another. Each part is a commentary on the construction of gender and femininity in which Olivia Court Mesa locates herself in the evolution of feminism. ACT I: Whenever I’m alone is the voyage of a woman into the raw, mechanical, burning and urgent, hidden and fragile layers of herself – her body serving as an inseparable companion for a dialogue. ACT II: A traveling bag, a body and me is a magic act about the construction of womanhood. It is an embodiment of history, mythology, expectation, and the physical possibility of women. DIPTYCH examines both the weight of the flesh and of societal expectation; the value that is carried by gender and the body that must be carried.
Olivia Court Mesa (1980) is a Chilean-Israeli dance artist devoted to performance art for the past 25 years. She has had the opportunity to live in three different countries, Chile, Germany and Israel, and has come to understand deep cultural nuances, changing perspectives and gaining experience through a migrant body. She has changed her religion and built homes in every place she has been to. Olivia is a mother of three girls. She is a feminist activist questioning bodily autonomy, the female and social body, and practicing how motherhood-life-dance and art can coexist in the most inspiring way. Olivia’s works are confessional. She is fascinated by how our psychology is connected to our physicality, and her life journey has fueled this motivation and curiosity to research human behavior.
Concept, Choreography, and Performance: Olivia Court Mesa
Co-creator of ACT I: Yochai Ginton
Costume: ACT I: Olivia Court Mesa, ACT II: Rosie Canaan
Text ACT II: Excerpt of “Un violador en tu camino” from Las Tesis / Olivia Court Mesa with excerpts from “A woman looking at men looking at women” from Siri Hustvedt
Sound design: Roey Hazon
Music: Deep, deep Breaths by Carlos Niño / Lieder Ohne Worte, Book 2, Op.3 (Excerpts): No.6 in F-Sharp Minor, MWV U 110 “Venetianisches Gondellied” by Felix Mendelssohn, Deniss Kozhukhin / Mezame (Awakening), Carlos Niño, Miguel Atwood-Fergeson / The Reminder of Long Ago, Joanna Brouk / Pajarillo Negro, Paz Court with her Coros Feminiles.
Light design: ACT I: Yoav Barel, ACT II: Amir Castro
Artistic Directors ACT I: Dana Ruttenberg and Oded Graf
Rehearsal manager: Gyula Csakvari
Photographer : Efrat Mazor
ACT I was created for Curtain Up 2021; ACT II was created in the Suzanne Dellal Centre Residency Program 2022 and for Between Heaven and Earth.
DIPTYCH: THE HISTORICAL PRESENT was produced with the support of the Israel Lottery Council For Culture & Arts, Keren Foundation, Suzanne Dellal Centre for Dance, and Olivia Court Mesa projects.