People doing moves begins its path as a short screendance film, but is actually a long-term study of the created in 2014 collective Taet Vremya. It is tempted by the idea of working with the broad concept of movement and functioning as an artistic platform, which is gaining more and more followers and participants from all over the world. The work of the collective is expressed through workshops, performances, exhibitions, films, and “free” creative experiments that examine different genres, creative approaches, directions, and courses, turning them into a multidisciplinary movement practice. This whole creative initiative is difficult to be perceived only through the prism of the film artwork – it is somehow impossible, and perhaps even unnecessary. Therefore, in this article, we will try to talk about both the screendance artwork and the bigger picture in which the artistic group positions its activity.

Curious about the physicality of the world, the guys from Taet Vremya assume that “the medium of artistic exploration is the body in motion as a tool and material”. They foresee in it an inexhaustible resource for creating new realities, for establishing a specific language, for giving us access to and connection with the world. In their approach transpires a delicate curiosity and playfulness through which absurdity makes its way to reveal to us everyday situations in an unsuspectingly “nourishing” way.

People doing moves (the movie), on the other hand, is a series of short micro-movements performed by human bodies, seemingly unrelated to each other, not motivated and originating from each other, unable to be presented as an exploration of a particular theme or issue, and can hardly even be grouped in entities. The series of movements flow freely; experiment boldly with basic cultural symbols and social gestures; surprise us with the potential of the human body and its habits, and sometimes make us laugh at the comical effect.

The performers master their bodies flawlessly, managing to isolate a specific body part and represent a form or interaction in an extremely funny and unusual way. In front of our eyes the familiar becomes unfamiliar and we see the unfamiliar as familiar. We are left to observe this game of fluid shifts and search for balance from one point in the body to another, as well as from one body to another, and we reach the key question for the work and the collective – who actually controls whom? The repetition of movement fragmentation, the hyper close-up shots, or just the opposite, the long shots help the viewer in this “wandering around’’ the question, which is deprived of a correct and precise answer.

The bodies of the performers create “sculptural situations” of social interactions – of the individual with themselves, of the individual with the Other, of the individual in Community. The collective makes us witnesses to a manifold of contexts created by a rich palette of movements that address key themes such as sexuality, spirituality, and aesthetics. Encountering everyday gestures of greeting, saying goodbye, yawning, working out, meditating, moving, or unpredictable movements for balancing a stick on the left palm, imitating a bird in flight with the right foot, “static” dry swimming experience,  we have the opportunity to read everyday life and reality in a new way and to be surprised, somewhat childishly, by that movement that we do on a daily basis and hardly realize that we are doing it, or that other movement that we allow ourselves to do only when we are alone and have no “audience”.

Thus, People doing moves becomes an awesome catalog of movement possibilities, an impressive archive of potentials, and a rare and precious collection that has captured human bodies in motion. Whether this catalog can claim to be absolute, whether this archive can be organized into precise sections, whether this collection is complete – we think the answers to these questions are rather negative. The formal proof of this is the series of workshops (online and live) that Taet Vremya has been holding recently, where they “assist’’ the birth of new movements. Because, as their manifesto states:

“[…] People doing moves is dedicated to everyone;

People doing moves maintains the human body;

People doing moves is self-designed;

People doing moves is an accumulation of moves;

People doing moves tries to push the boundaries and conventions of the body […];

There is no right or wrong. You are a person who moves in possibilities;

People doing moves is a universal language […]”

Taet Vremya strongly wants to create a community, providing a platform of innovative approaches to movement, and strategies to build one, for everyone interested in their project. Here is an excerpt from their list of instructions:

“001 Create a movement.

002 Use your body in unusual and witty ways.

003 Recognize the movements that relate to your body.

004 Recognize inappropriate movements. Complete them. What do you feel now?

005 Try to imitate the movement.

006 Try to repeat a movement and change a detail.

[…]

043 Inspire yourself, inspire others, inspire us too.

[…]

Our bodies are enough”.

Now it’s up to you and me to try.

The article is translated by Miryana Mezeklieva.