Elena Kovylina (Russia)
Waltz
The Boxing Club at Limehouse Town Hall, Sunday 28 May 2006
The first performance of Kovylina’s Waltz was in Berlin in 2001, and the last, this one for Wild Gift, at the Limehouse Town Hall in London. It was Kovylina’s first trip to the UK.
The performance serves as a metaphor for the fall of the old Russian guard and the rise of the new – both military and cultural. It is also a piece geared to create an inescapable moral tension.
The artist had thirteen glasses of Vodka, and thirteen medals. Accompanied by the songs of Marlene Dietrich, she invited one audience member at a time to dance with her, toasting them and smashing the glass on the floor before each dance. After each waltz she pinned a medal to her jacket. It was half way through the performance that the tension rose steeply: Kovylina’s drunkenness had clearly kicked in and from here to the final glass, waltz and medal we were watching and abetting a peculiar tightrope-like performance.
‘Art has no direct political power but it causes resonances in broad social circles.
Performance as medium struck me with its versatility, its ability to react quickly to social contexts and to different situations. It seemed to bring together all my interests: visual arts, film, theater, activism.’
‘I am trying to minimize acting and maximize the so-called "presence," which leads us to the notion of reality … My work encompasses a director's and performer's tasks simultaneously. If we’re talking about role-playing, I prefer to relate the performances to the concept of a play – I see my performances as a specific kind of play: strategic games, like chess.’
Elena Kovylina in conversation with Elena Sorokina, 2006. Full interview on Kovylina’s website.
Thanks to
The Boxing Club, especially Peter Brownell
Martin Watkins / Toy Kenning (for ribbons)
Lyla Sleeman (for medals)
Joy Sleeman
Natalia Poljakova (for bringing the Vodka and for other vital duties)
Richard Crow, Kate Hawkins, Tim Stevens
