Wayne McGregor on the harm of touch-by-tech and his inspirational Biennale

Philosopher Matthew Fulkerson wrote:

It is through touch that we are able to interact directly with the world; it is our primary conduit of both pleasure and pain. Touch may be our most immediate and powerful sense – ‘the first sense’ because of the central role it plays in experience.

Wayne McGregor, Director of the Dance Department of La Biennale di Venezia, has chosen First Touch as the umbrella title for this year’s Biennale.

As we are propelled into 2021, after a year of the pandemic, social distancing and enforced physical restrictions, we are powerfully reminded of the criticality of touch in our lives. Indeed, touch has taken on new resonances in our society at large and most personally as this fundamental sense we usually take for granted has been challenged and compromised. We have been unable to hold our loved ones nor reach out to feel our friends embrace, we have missed the powerful interpersonal relationships that are engendered by skin-to-skin contact and have registered most deeply the profound loss to our physical, mental and emotional well-being such touch-deprivation opens in us. And instead, we have become all touch-by-tech; remote interactions, computer communication, zoom exercises and digital meetings. Our bodies somehow suspended in the ether.

Today, we are desperate to re-connect to the world through and with our bodies and we are, now more than ever, ready to be exhilarated by a return to our fullest embodied existence.

Dance, the greatest of First Touch art forms is poised to inspire such a spectacular revival and our 2021 Biennale Danza programme will celebrate the diversity and dynamism of many exceptional artistic voices that express their truths through the breath-taking instrument of the human form.

Artistic voices expressing truth through the human form

Through the quiet choreographic brilliance of Pam Tanowitz, flying bodies sensitively respond to the elemental touch of pianist Simone Dinnerstein’s unique interpretation of the Goldberg Variations. Natasha Atlas’s haunting, velvet touch voice, accompanies Company Koubi on their personal, poetic and dreamlike Odyssey whilst super star dancer and cultural icon Mikhail Baryshnikov bears raw in an unforgettable installation work from Jan Fabre that touches the soul.

Brutal, fast and potent, (La)Horde physically scream their way through a rave inspired world with producer Rone – their hard touch a revealing counterpoint to the mercurially fluid dancers of Xie Xin Co, daring a philosophical battle of body towards and from chaos. And let’s not forget performance artist Oliver de Sagazan who literally uses clay, paint and contortion to transform his cast live, a living Francis Bacon painting where his touch smears, cuts and rips his body as canvas. We journey too, through intimate encounters of touch and feeling; through the sense-making of our Golden Lion, Germaine Acogny and the visceral emotionality of our Silver Lion, Oona Doherty.

We pass momentarily between the inventive total worlds of D’Agostin, Bereishit and Metamorphosis as they guide us to new sensation and experience and we immerse ourselves in the future tense with adventurous, durational installation work by Wilkie Branson, Random International and Company Wayne McGregor.

The work and artists in the performance and installation programme are radicals in their own right. They are excellent communicators, provoking and stimulating fresh human awareness through their work. The sense of community and togetherness is present in the fabric of the pieces selected where interaction and collective experience drives the content. The work spans an eclectic and diverse range of expression with each artist articulating a singular and innovative perspective. These are refreshing works by major established names and emerging artists – all Italian or European premieres.

Visionaries of Tomorrow

And what of the future art makers, the visionaries of tomorrow. If our LIVE season is the heart of the Biennale Danza, the COLLEGE is our blood supply. This year 20 dancers (half from Italy and half global) and 5 choreographer/dancers (international) convene in Venice for 3 months to train, workshop, explore, invent, and make together. Through expert tutelage and mentorship from exceptional dance professionals, the community of Biennale College artists will take a deep dive into the work and processes of choreographers Crystal Pite and myself, as well as engage in bespoke learning, creative and research programmes, tailor-made for their individual career development and progression.

In actively supporting a new generation of dance makers, Biennale Danza will initiate two new commissioning programmes aimed at nurturing emerging work for the future. The first will dedicate resources to the Silver Lion awardee annually and contribute to their next dream project. The second, will be a commission awarded to an Italian dance maker to include financial and artistic support as well as a commitment to present the commissioned work in the subsequent Biennale. This commission will be open to application in May and the recipient(s) announced during Biennale Danza 2021.    

Touch you, Move you

First Sense aspires to touch you, move you, both emotionally and physically – not only in our live performance and installation programme, but in public and professional workshops, artist talks and in our film series. It is all there in Biennale Danza 2021. And finally, we have an extra special guest – the dazzling photographer Mary McCartney, who for Biennale Danza 21, will be in residence, capturing the fleeting moments of our touch experiences, interactions, concentrations and joys. Images we look forward to sharing in Mary’s exhibition for Biennale Danza 2022.

The longing to touch / be touched. I feel gratitude when I touch someone—as well as affection, etc. The person has allowed me proof that I have a body—and that there are bodies in the world. – Susan Sontag

La Biennale di Venezia 15th International Festival of Contemporary Dance

First Sense – Director Wayne Mc Gregor

Venice, 23 July to 1 August

FRIDAY 23 JULY 2021

 SATURDAY 25 JULY

 SUNDAY, JULY 25

 MONDAY, JULY 26

TUESDAY, JULY 27

 WEDNESDAY, JULY 28

 THURSDAY, JULY 29

FRIDAY, JULY 30

 SATURDAY, JULY 31

 SUNDAY, AUGUST 1

Gramilano Editor

Graham Spicer, aka ‘Gramilano’, is a writer, director and photographer based in Milan. He was a regular columnist for Opera Now magazine and wrote for the BBC until transferring to Italy. His articles have appeared in various publications from Woman’s Weekly to Gay Times, and he wrote the Danza in Italia column for Dancing Times magazine. Graham was the historical advisor on Codice Carla, the 2023 documentary on Italian ballerina Carla Fracci.

Graham also works as a dance photographer, and his photos have appeared in many books, theatre programmes, and magazines, including Dancing Times, Dance Spirit and Ballet2000, as well as all the major Italian newspapers.

He is a member of the Dance Section of The Critics’ Circle.