How are madness, the spine and Hamlet related to each other in a choreographic process? This exposition displays the collection of documentation of the research. The exposition functions as the contextual backbone for the project 'Song of the Cuckoo', an experimental Practice as Research project in the form of a soliloquy performed by two dancers: Joany Uranka; dancer, assistent researcher, co-creator and myself. The nexus of the project is formed by the three strands originating from (1) an understanding of madness as a performative concept and philosophical perception, a phenomenon of indwelling and study of the transformative nature of creativity, supported by Michel Foucault's thesis History of Madness,(2) the human spine as a choreographic, kinesthetic, (imaginative) anatomical concept as well as an existential metaphor for the idea of becoming, inspired by the embryological phases of birth. And (3), Shakespeare's play Hamlet which is researched as a poetic, literary source functioning as the main inspiration and theatrical search of the totality of the project. The appearance of the character Ophelia in this play is re-purposed and re-imagined for the construction of the narrative and dramaturgical line of the project. The symbolical interpretations of the flowers which Ophelia gives to other characters in the play are translated into specific emotional and physical states of the performance.
The nexus of the project is experimentally embodied by the author of the project and research, myself. The project itself is a practice as research on the above described research question, as well as an emerging meta-reflection on the relation between the author and his work.
