GAZELLE. Blenard Azizaj
A solo dance-research-project on the fusion of contemporary and Georgian traditional dance.
Blenard Azizaj has applied the DIS-TANZEN-SOLO grant to his research on Georgian traditional dance practices and their fusion with his own movement vocabulary. His points of interest in this research lay on the aspects of gender relations and the movement’s combat character, both strongly present contexts in these dances. More specifically, he focused on the traditional dance Jeirani, which means gazelle and incorporates classical ballet movements into traditional dancing to depict a hunting scene. During his research, Blenard exchanged regularly theoretical and practical knowledge on the topic with David Chanisvili, one of the main dancers of the Georgian National Theater.
Georgian traditional dancing is characterized by a high technical level, that includes spectacular leaps and turns, spinning movements on the knees and a swift and energized transfer between different levels of the vertical axis. Blenard’s own movement dialect is also inspired from folk dances of his origin country, Albania and is strongly based on a highly physical and animalistic expression of movement that aims to unveil hidden emotional narrations. Through the encounter of these two movement spheres, Blenard has discovered new terrains of artistic practice that relate to the dynamics emerging from the combination of the earth and air element, the rooted footing that springs to a flying pose, a combination characteristic to Georgian traditional dancing.
GAZELLE has been researched as a solo project, where variant movement material has been produced and the traditional red shawl of the Jeirani dance was actively incorporated. Subsequently the vision of developing a choreography project together with Georgian traditional dancers in Georgia has emerged.
