HYBRIS

When dance becomes an identity marker and shapes – choreographs – whiteness.

As a teenager, he found security in something that was different from himself because he – as queer/gay – also felt different.

Hybris is the title of dance artist Jonas Øren’s piece about choreography as cultural appropriation. Based on his own personal experiences, he examines whether choreography and movement contribute to creating confusion around notions, representations, and definitions of identity.

Øren questions two popular cultural stereotypes and how the (Americanized) black female artist from hip-hop and rap culture and the (white) queer man meet in a common linguistic and bodily expression.

Øren describes the stereotype as effortless and fierce; isn’t this rather a specific performativity that is ultimately another example of an identity marker?

The dance artist examines how he himself has pretended and continues to be fascinated by the women. Nevertheless, he has an unrestricted room for action and opportunity as white. According to Øren, the casual comparison of a white gay man’s lived experience with the experience of black women is appropriation, not solidarity. He asks: how can we achieve cultural understanding without appropriation?

Hybris is a three-part, multidisciplinary project that has been built in a slow process. It includes a publication and a rap EP.

Jonas Ørens ‘Hybris’ is presented in collaboration with TREKANTEN.