Joshua Monten was born near New York City and studied literature and cultural anthropology at Duke University before starting her dance studies. As a dancer he has performed for the Bern Ballet, the Stadttheater Heidelberg, the Staatstheater Nürnberg and the Theater Freiburg. He has worked with important choreographers such as Stijn Celis and Hofesh Shechter. Teaches dance at the University of Bern and has published numerous articles on dance and anthropology, Joshua even started his own dance company in 2012.
Al Chassepierre Festival in Belgium, last August, Joshua Monten performed in “Little joy“, a performance delivered by a handful of beautifully violent dancers. The show explores the unexpectedly joyous art of a dance that is a struggle corale, free from plot constraints and psychological realism: Joshua was inspired by Slapstick Comedy, from his moments of misunderstanding and scuffle.
Intricate dances of consensual violence follow each other while noises similar to the Foley effects some films underscore the action, which is exhilaratingly tragic and thrilling to watch. The show's violent choreography has a thrilling effect on viewers, even if many feel guilty admitting they are drawn to it. At the heart of the play is the notion Freudian of Schadenfreude: the way we are all able to take pleasure in the misfortune of others, while this dark pleasure is sublimated into Art Joshua's show takes off.
Below, the interview released by Joshua Monten al Chassepierre Festival for First Art.
Did you enjoy performing at the Chassepierre Festival in Belgium? Was the rain a challenge for you?
“The rain added stress to the situation, surely it was an additional difficulty, but actually the performance “Little Joy” works well in the rain, there is a little more work but it also creates a sense of community. We dancers are soaked as are our audience and together we share an even more enjoyable experience, at which point you can be sure the audience really wants to be there, standing in the rain watching the show.”
Dancing in a violent way, with background noises similar to the Foley effects of the films with a touch of Slapstick Comedy… how it was born this idea?
“Choreographed fights mixed with disagreement and anger have interested me for a long time, in old movies these scenes often based on an argument followed by a funny fight have always covered my favorite part of the movie. So I thought it would be fun to make a show that just focused on that, producing live Foley-style sound effects via trash drums.
I once witnessed the work of a boxing coach for a production involving Romeo and Juliet and loved watching those fights unfold, you know all that "I'll grab you and push you, and then I'll hit you like this!" It's a violent action, but people still communicate and enjoy doing it, a subtle mix of cooperation and combat. I enjoy stage fighting as a theatrical technique and wanted to show more of that to my audience.
In my dance-fight, the victim is the one who is responsible for the action and has to act more fully, meanwhile the aggressor pretends more, however I consider the pleasure at the heart of my show a guilty pleasure. We all know that we shouldn't enjoy seeing other people get hit, that we shouldn't take pleasure in Schadenfreude, but secretly we like it, it's a natural instinct that each of us has."
So is it useful to release this energy that is not always expressed?
“In play violence we give each other permission to hit each other, I think it's something universal, children play like this, all animals practice the same play violence, it's a basic form of play.
Yes, of course, I think there is confusion in our society between real violence and playful violence. It's clear that people want to prevent real violence, that's a beautiful goal and I support it, but some people have forgotten gaming violence and it's a shame, I find it liberating.”
Why did you call the show you brought to the Chassepierre Festival “Little Joy”?
“The play is based on a work by Sigmund Freud, Schadenfreude and literally means "Be glad of someone else's misfortune“, the secret joy towards the suffering of others is sublimated in this show, it is one of the basic aspects of the performance, the pleasure that the audience feels in seeing the dancers hit each other and get hurt (pretend).
You can realize that there are many different joys in the song “Little Joy”, the joy of hearing Foley-like background noises, the joy of watching, the joy of seeing myself fall to the floor again and again. We decided to make a small show of all this, it is not an excessively long fighting dance: here is the name Little Joy.”
Do you want to tell us about another show of yours?
“For a while the company will focus on a different show called romeo romeo romeo this until January 2020, the next dates of this performance are: December 14th 2019, Teatro Uri, Altdorf, 19 January 2020, Stadttheater Solothurn, 21 January 2020, Stadttheater Solothurn, all in Switzerland. It is a play for 4 male roles, one of which is played by a woman disguised as a man. All 4 dancers in this piece are playing Romeo and everyone in the audience is metaphorically Juliet, spectators sit in a circle around the actors who approach as they perform, directly involving the audience.
In this case the theme of the show is the dance as a form of courtship, again this is something animals do too, birds dance sometimes to attract their partner just like us. Nowadays some people use apps on their smartphone to find a soul mate, while in the past it was more used to dance to attract someone you were attracted to, for me this was a motivation to start dancing.
I started dancing as a teenager in the beginning to impress other people, some artists deny this aspect and say they do it only for the sake of the art, but I think deep down there is still the desire to please and attract.
It's here too the idea of sublimation, when you can't freely express some of these instincts in society, you can sublimate them through Art, that's a great motivation.”
It's your life? Taking a quick look at your website it looks like you've been touring almost non-stop since 2016, is it ever tiring?
“True, my company and I tour a lot, I personally don't always go, sometimes the dancers even perform without me if my presence is not needed. However I am always grateful to have the opportunity to show my work around, and enjoy the adventure of discovering new places through my performances, even though it can be exhausting at times.”
All the photos in this article were taken by Gerardo Iannacci and all rights to the above are reserved to him
