BASE Milano Mette Ingvartsen — The Dancing Public

In The Dancing Public, Mette Ingvartsen explores ecstatic movement within social gatherings. Electronic music and vocal arrangements draw the audience not only to watch but to feel the beat in their bodies as she dances unstoppably across three stages. Calling back to choreomanias or dance ‘crazes’ from the past, Ingvartsen’s voice fills the space with stories, rapid-fire verbal rhythms, songs and ecstatic shouts. She moves through the audience as though dancing in a public square, or diving into the delirious night of an endless rave. As she dances, her chants recall episodes of unexplained mass dance from medieval times to the present day – moments when people danced till they dropped, feet covered in blood and minds shrouded by fog.

Between evil possessions, uncontrollable gestures and hysteric outbursts, a joyful spirit bursts through her body and urges us to dance. Calling on the collective power of being together, this dance feast, spoken-word concert or frenzy of unbounded movement oscillates between exhaustion and celebration.