Florinda Camilleri

‘Wandermust 2.’

Dancers: Lidia Caricasole & Lotte La Haye

For quite a while now, I’ve been researching post-human perspectives, thinking of the body not as one fixed entity, but as a continuum of different entities working together. Within that, there is the part of us that is living, those that are not living, and there’s also the technological. As I’m making this work, I’m constantly thinking: How can I move into these different perspectives to develop a dance? Can I learn to think about dance and performance differently when I’m more in touch with the technological material? And what can these dances look like? – Quite a big question. 

I’m really enjoying the process. It’s such a gift to work with Lidia and Lotte, as well as Pearl and Amber. I’ve known them for some time now but never worked with them as a choreographer. It’s exciting for me to be here and to have the time to invest in this process. It’s a challenge juggling another full time job, but thankfully the team is very generous, and doing everything to make that possible. What I’m learning, is that sometimes it’s less about fixing the end, and instead about having fun experimenting. 

Tara Dalli

‘Fiat Ferrari’

Dancers: Andrea Biagioni & Luke Bugeja Gauci

My piece is called Fiat Ferrari. It took me a while to think about how I wanted to relate to ‘my body in a digital world,’ and it got me thinking about my childhood. I  grew up with technology advancing around me, and now it’s become such a part of our everyday lives. I was experimenting a lot with creative tasks, leaving it very open to interpretation. I wanted to see how the dancers would react to the tasks I was giving them. I had no expectations, but just came with very broad ideas relating to these themes of childhood and technology. It’s very whacky and kooky, and I love it…I wish I had more time for more fun though.

Pamela Kerr

‘I am Linked, Therefore I am’

Dancer: Hugo Olagnon

I’m working on a solo with Hugo, and the piece is called ‘I am Linked, Therefore I am.’ We’ve decided to look into the idea of living a dual life due to social media-Who are we? The person who we portray online, or the person we live outside of that? The music I chose conditioned very much the movement quality that we explored together. I’ve chosen a piece of music that everybody knows, and the reason I’ve done this is because I feel that this behaviour is something experienced inter-generationally. Within the music there is also some text which influences the way (Hugo) moves. 

Hugo has been absolutely fantastic to work with. The first day I walked into rehearsal, I said that I feel a solo is very much 50/50 in terms of what I give, and what he gives. He has been absolutely amazing, and I truly believe this is our work and truly a collaborative process, where he has taken every task to the next level. It’s a real pleasure actually, to be here, and to work with someone with such an excellent work ethic.

Florinda Camilleri

Sarah Vella

‘Extension’

Dancers: Simon-Riccardi-Zani, Amber Van Veen, & Nicole Chetcuti

The piece I’m creating for ŻfinMade is called ‘Extension,’ and is actually an extension of a piece I created for The Arts Awards with Candoco Dance Company, which was a lot about finding the authenticity in the self, and how we bring authenticity on stage. We connected that theme with the idea of how we portray ourselves in the digital world, and how we create and reveal different parts of ourself in that digital world. It deals with the idea of the extension from our core to our extremities: how does the self extend and change for others, and how does that change depending on the environment that we are in. 

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I’m working with three dancers, and I love working with numbers. Odd numbers specifically. It’s been a really lovely process. I’m really interested in getting to know them as people, so it’s been also an intimate process and they really give so much of themselves into the work.

Pamela Kerr

Valentina Cauchi

‘AI I AM’

Dancers: Keith Micallef & Martí Romeu Blanco

 I’ve been fascinated with how AI has progressed in recent years, particularly in the idea of AI companions, and how people all over the world are getting hooked on the idea of building relationships with AI beings. I’ve tried therefore, to build a work which examines the relationship between humans and AI bodies, and how those two might relate to each other in the very near future. I’m really enjoying working with the ŻfinMalta dancers. Keith and Martí have been fabulous at really bringing my ideas to life. I’m currently in the process of structuring the piece, and I feel like we’re somewhere in the middle between figuring out the muscle of the general performance and the detail.

Sandra Mifsud

‘Illusio’

Dancer: Pearl Calleja

The piece I’m working on is called ‘Illusio.’ I chose to look a little bit at perhaps the negative side of technology, and how we as human beings are constantly looking for happiness outside of us, in the material world- and I’ve extended that into the digital world. We are dealing with the question of what makes us happy, constantly searching for that happiness in our digital spheres, and realising how illusory that is. What attracts us to the outside digital world, and why is it so addictive. How do we handle that in our everyday lives. 

A lot of the decision making is made in collaboration with the dancer, with Pearl. She is extremely generous with experimenting, exploring ideas, and exploring the themes of this piece. I obviously guide and lead a little bit, of course, but we very much work hand in hand. The movement material is very much hers. I’m not imposing any movement material on her, but rather just offering themes to work with. 

Thursday 5th (20:00) & Saturday 7th December (20:00)

Extension | Sarah Vella

Illusio | Sandra Mifsud

Ai I Am | Valentina Cauchi

Friday 6th (20:00) & Sunday 8th December (19:00)

Fiat Ferrari | Tara Dalli

I am Linked, Therefore I am | Pamela Kerr

Wandermust 2.0 | Florinda Camilleri

Watch James Vernon’s trailer for ‘ŻfinMade: Corporeality’