CO-PRESENTS: GIORDANA FALZONE
to upada — it falls
march 31st, 2024 | river, belltown, seattle
PROGRAM NOTES
created & performed by Giordana Falzone in collaboration with Agata Jedrzejczak
sound: Excerpts from Live Performance at the Chapel Performance Space, December 23, 2017 and Building 27 - WNP-5 by Seattle Phonographers Union, Excerpts from "Breu - I Trovão" and "Breu - IV Bichos" from the album Do Claro Ao Breu by Sopa de Pedra, Excerpts from "Kopalnocka" from the album Wiano by Sutari, Excerpts from "Ty Pójdziesz Górą" from the album Tamoji by Bastardi and Sutari
filmed by Anthony Sy
photos by Allina Yang
to upada—it falls is a map of memory in motion and the places where one thing blurs into another. Encounters and decisions are found in between the, metaphorical or literal, letting go and the landing.
IN CONVERSATION
We sat down with CO-PRESENTS artist Giordana Falzone to gain perspective into their inspirations and process leading up to the premiere of their work, sweetwaterdances, as part of CO-PRESENTS: marco + Giordana on March 31st, 2024.
CO- : What was your initial inspiration for this piece? Has it evolved?
GF: The process for this piece has had a slow build up so the initial inspiration has been a gradual gathering and trying of ideas. And within the last month has been when we really dove in, and we are seeing how it evolves quite quickly. The piece feels much like a river where sticks are dropped in at the top and you see what ends up at the bottom.
Some of the elements that have continued to float:
The looping and overlapping that is inspired by the vocal traditions of Lithuanian Sutartinės
This practice of slow moving that I call the glacial pace
A curiousity about softness and folding
CO- : How did you choose your collaborators, and what draws you to work with them?
GF: Agata and I had been hoping to collaborate with each other after meeting and dancing together for several months in New York City last year. We began to experiment in a studio on the side and those sessions felt quite fruitful with possibilities. This new project offered an opportunity for us to begin developing those experimentations into something broader and we hope that this is the start of a much longer collaborative relationship.
CO- : As a Seattle-based movement artist, what inspires you about our city's dance scene?
GF: I continue to be inspired by how warm the dance scene is in Seattle and the intentionality behind generating community throughout the scene. There is a true sense of showing up for each other, not simply for being seen. Having been in Seattle before, during, and after college, I have felt that across the different ways and ages that I have participated in the scene and through different generations of people. Seattle also is a wonderful place to begin making work yourself because there is a sense of fostering creation here and also a willingness to let people try things. There is a history of experimentation that still feels present. The scope of work being made here is also getting broader and the different factions of the dance scene are starting to cross-pollinate more, which is very exciting.
CO- : How does your dance/making practice inform how you relate to the world?
GF: I see being an artist and experiencing the world as quite closely linked. It shapes how I view and interact with the world on a microlevel. I find a greater sense of curiosity and awe and wonder and grit and tenacity and critical thinking because of being a dancer and maker. It requires us to feel and question, hopefully inspiring/confronting others to do the same.
