PC: Courtesy of BPART (Open practice before The River’s Course in Prague, 2023)
The River’s Course
role: co-curator, director, dramaturg (2022-2023)
40-minute site specific performance with live music
Bohnice Psychiatric Hospital, Prague
May 27, 2023
Presented by Mezi Ploty
Commissioned and produced by BPART
Co-produced by Nichole Canso Dance Company and 44 Arts Productive
Community partners Bohnice Psychiatric Hospital, Fokus Praha, Studio Citadela
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Artistic direction and dramaturgy by Michèle Steinwald
Choreography by Nichole Canuso and Sam Johnson in collaboration with Eun Jung Choi and Lila Hurwitz
Design by John Fleischer
Music by Irena and Vojtěch Havlovi
Performance by Levin Eichert (CZ), Audur Huld Gunnarsdóttir (IS), Lara Hereu Macho (CZ), Agáta
Jarošová (CZ), Tiffany Margelin (IS), Gabriel Marling Rideout (IS) , Yuliana Palacios Figueroa (IS), Marie
Svobodová (CZ), Orkun Türkmen (CZ), Thea Atladóttir (IS), VojtÄ›ch Havel (CZ), Lila Hurwitz (USA), Eun
Jung Choi (USA), Nichole Canuso (USA), Sam Johnson (US), and community members from Studio
Citadela, Fokus Praha, Bohnice Psychiatric Hospital, Charles University (Department of Philosophy), and
Prague College of Psychosocial Studies.
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Project funded by
EEA and Norway Grants
Národní Plán Obnovy / National Recovery Plan
Ministerstvo Kultury / Czech Ministry of Culture
Jihomoravsky kraj / South Moravian region
Státni fond kultury CR / National Fund for Culture
and through the generosity of Carlo and Lalie Scandiuzzi, Daniel Steinwald, David Roark, Huong Vu, and
Rudi Bertschi.
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“The River’s Course was a process of being with one another supported by movement structures—dances—where we were safe to play together. We imagined what it was like to be a forest, a community of trees that communicated through roots underground. As humans pretending to be a forest, we used our breath (inhaling as the trees exhaled and exhaling as the trees inhaled) to be in relationship with our surroundings. Our practice was of CARE, and for how we RECOGNIZE one another. Our time together was brief and verbal language was a barrier to getting to know each other personally through story. RECOGNITION became our language for how we saw each other and stood by each other, as we played in movement together.”
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—Michèle Steinwald (excerpt from presentation at BPART Forum, June 1, 2023 at HAMU – The Academy of Performing Arts, Music and Dance Faculty’s Inspirace Theatre)
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PC: Courtesy of BPART (Performance of The River’s Course in Prague, 2023)
PC: Courtesy of BPART (Performance of The River’s Course in Prague, 2023)
PC: Courtesy of BPART (Gathering before dress rehearsal of The River’s Course in Prague, 2023)
PC: Courtesy of BPART) Workshop for The River’s Course in Prague, 2023)
PC: Courtesy of BPART (Performance of The River’s Course in Prague, 2023)
PC: Courtesy of BPART (Performers hugging following performance of The River’s Course in Prague, 2023)