“Dance before the War” explores my position towards militarization and armament with the ongoing war in Ukraine and possibility of war in central Europe.
I have always felt a big fear of war and since February 2022 it has only grown more concrete. But at the same time, more young men and women my age join the military. To get an understanding of their motivations and see if they share some of my fears, I am meeting young people who either joined the military recently or are in the process of joining. In the project you get to know them through portraits and excerpts of interviews. With this I also want to show that there are real young people behind the numbers of soldiers that we see on the news.
In collaboration with a dancer and a composer I created a performance that deals with my fear of war, my confusion and internal panic. This performance is finalized as a video piece.
Next to that I am collecting visual material like military advertisements, news images and imagery from social media that show moments from the front lines in ways that we’ve rarely seen before. With this project I want to show the complexity of the situation that we are currently in and make room for quiet thoughts and subtle reflections that currently get lost in often overheated discussions.