Igor Koruga & Ana Dubljević: ONLY MINE ALONE

In his book Risk Society (1992), German sociologist Ulrich Beck states that in the late modern society “how one lives becomes the biographical solution of systemic contradictions”. More than twenty years after Beck’s statement, Serbian dancers, performers and choreographers Igor Koruga and Ana Dublević in their latest performance Only Mine Alone problematise the relationship between the private (or the extremely individualized) and the public through the tautological symptoms of the social choreography in the contemporary depoliticized society, in which the issue is not so much the political occupation of privacy, but a process in which the individualist Darwinism of the late capitalism emerges painfully and horrifyingly, with its psychosomatic trauma, in the public arena of the vacated political space ruled by the deficit of representation. Dance performance Only Mine Alone with its vulnerable presence addresses the problem of contemporary loneliness and paves its way into the public by providing it with possible social consolidation.    

“If we manage to get to know each other through our depressions, then maybe we could use it for generating new models of socialities that will lead us, not only towards the exit from our impasses (deadends) but also help us to understnad the impasse as a state with a productive potential.” – Depression, a public feeling – Ann Cvetkovich

The work explores so called “negative emotions” of an individual as a significant quality of everyday life within the present capitalistic society. The inspiration for this research, besides the authors’ personal experiences, came from the theoretical and artistic work of Ann Cvetkovich, who treats them as social and cultural signifiers, rather than medical condition of an individual. The work supports public recognition of these emotions on a collective level, as a potential starting point for emergence of new forms of collectivity, solidarity and socio-political act.

“Young choreographic-dance duo Ana Dubljević and Igor Koruga have publicly “spoke” about their negative feelings – as young artists who work in harsh precarious conditions. This gave rise to […] rarely wise, aesthetically flawlessly purified, sophisticated and witty, thus emotionally exceptionally strong and sincere performance of independent contemporary dance scene – Only Mine Alone.” – Ivan Medenica, NIN 2016

Over the last five years, Ana and Igor have continously collaborated artistically through several projects, exploring various topics through the field of contemporary dance and choreography: existence and function of a public speech in today’s capitalist society, the status and rights of people with rare diseases in Serbia, social status of new generation artists of contemporary dance; temporality as basic condition of work and existence in today’s art market, etc. On a formal level they are analysing choreography in the sphere of immaterial – the language, thus producing “language choreography” as an expanded form of stage expression. Through their continious collaboration, they have produced works: Practice what you Pitch! (2013), Expose (2013/2014), Streamlined (2014/2015); and Temporaries (2011-2013) – in collaboration with four more local choreographers from Belgrade.

Oblikovanje scenskega prostora/Performance space: Siniša Ilić
Izdelava scene/Performance space construction: Karkatag kolektiv
Glasba/Music: Darja Janošević
Grafični dizajn/Graphic design: Katarina Popović
Pordukcija/Production: Ksenija Đurović
Stiki z javnostmi/PR: Sanja Ljumović
Fotografije/Photos: Vladimir Opsenica
Video dokumentacije/Video documentation: Nemanja Stojanović
Koprodukcija/Co-production: Stanica, servisna organizacija sodobnega plesa, Beograd, s podporo mreže Departures and Arrivals (DNA), financirane s programom Creative Europe/ Station Service for contemporary dance with the support of Departures and Arrivals (DNA) network through the Creative Europe programme
Podprto z/ Supported by: Ministrstvo za kulturo in informiranje Republike Srbije in Gledališča BITEF/Ministry of Culture and Information of the Republic of Serbia and Bitef Theatre
Hvala/Thanks: Jugoslovansko dramsko gledališče, Magacin in Kuturni center Preporod/Yugoslav Drama Theatre, Magacin and Cultural center Parobrod