Bodies Together

An immersive, performative exploration of the phenomenon of corporations. In creating this immersion, we discovered a certain poetry in the corporate issue. Rather than dealing with a specific case study, we focused on the question: How do we perceive the influence and impact of corporations on our everyday lives? In general, we tend to mistakenly assume that as individuals we have nothing to do with the issue of corporations, that are at the heart of the success of the capitalist system in which we live. However, our lives and work are deeply connected to this financially profit-driven system. More than we can often imagine, realise or admit. The corporation is indeed artificial legal structure, but the people who engage in it, whether shareholders, executives, employees, or the rest of us through various business transactions, all have moral and ethical responsibilities. One of the several meanings of the term corporation is one that says that several persons-bodies come together to form a body-person, unite, and become a collective. In the abstract, BODIES TOGETHER. The performers oscillate between the identity of the 'physical person' and the embodiment of the values of the corporation as a 'legal person'. In Bodies Together, we play as if the presence of each body is part of one corporate structure in which we all participate. The rules and goals are gradually revealed as the game progresses. How do you co-create and navigate the world of manipulation? The performance is structured around each performer's attempt to be heard and thus escape the corporate system. It highlights how we are all inevitably and repeatedly drawn back into the game. 7 'real people' plus 40 more 'real bodies' become 47 Bodies Together in a fragmented environment made up of 70 floating boxes. The creative team offers a playful opportunity to embark on a fictional journey together into a uniquely human corporation with the chance to imagine new strategies for the 'real world'. One strategy we found is to go 'Through, not against'. The performance Bodies Together took part in a PQ+ programme of Prague Quadriennal and was presented at Malá Inventura festival. Premiéra: 9th of December 2022, PONEC - dance venue, Prague, CZ