Sharona Florsheim
RE-CONNECT ART 2023
CRINOLINES
THE PERFORMANCE WAS POSTPONED UNTIL 2023
Crinolines is a performance by Sharona Florsheim adapted for two dancers in a public space in Prague.
The work depicts the encounter between a moving body and a rigid crinoline. The voluminous crinoline dress, which was fashionable in the 19th century, can serve as a metaphor for the social constraints that characterise communication through digital networks at the expense of physical contact, exacerbated by the pandemic of Covid-19. The crinoline, with its networked structure, acts as an extension of the living body, altering its physical dimensions, limiting freedom of movement and possibilities for intimacy. It is a social construct that, despite being severely restrictive, was widespread and fashionable in its time. Based on a metal structure weighing up to twenty kilograms, the size and weight of the dresses prevented wearers from walking through doors or sitting down, and at times even caused death due to fire and accidents. As the dancers cope with the physical limitations, human strategies of acceptance, resistance and playfulness are manifested, each creating a specific emotional and physical world.
The performance is realised with the kind support of the Israel Embassy in Prague.
Sharona Florsheim is a choreographer, artistic director and cultural producer based in Israel. In her choreographic work, Florsheim brings together complex structures of improvisation and set material, creating a unique and poignant style of work. Florsheim undermines existing power structures while exploring human expressions of freedom, presence and instant decision making. She emphasises the relationships formed in real time between space, performers, and audience creating immersive and inclusive dance performances and events. To date, Sharona has created five full-length performances and her work has been presented in Europe, Africa and regularly performed in Israel. Her recent works, created for stage and public spaces, include: Crinolines (2021), The One Hand Sound (2017), Fragile Formation (2016), Noa’s Secret of Infinity (2015), Connectivity Practices (2014), The Big Game (2012) and many more.