18 P_R_A_C_T_I_C_E_S

18 P_R_A_C_T_I_C_E_S explores the seemingly stable “I” as a collection of odd, truncated fictions, percolating just beneath the surface. With a physicality both fluid and uncoordinated, and with a sense of humour both deliciously absurd and razor sharp, Andrew Turner probes the parts of ourselves that show up unannounced and uninvited. Approach  “This project centres a collection of eighteen diversely textured practices, some strictly dance-related and others arising out of a scattering of my odd quasi-obsessions, from speaking (and singing) in reverse to light sabre spinning. Each practice is inspired by a recent translation of Homer’s Odyssey by Emily Wilson (2017), the first by a woman scholar, acclaimed for its contemporary critical perspective on this seminal myth. I discovered Wilson’s subversive version at a time when I was re-evaluating my own conception of masculinity and virility, notions that are frequently and unfortunately fused. Odysseus presents an early Western blueprint for some of the unquestioned, problematic notions of masculinity prevalent today. An avid childhood reader of the myth, I believe my own masculine substructure emerged partly in response to those tales of a warrior king and noble wanderer on his 10-year return from the Trojan War. Wilson’s Odysseus is nuanced and far less heroic: a failed captain arriving to Ithaca alone after having led his crew to their deaths; an anti-social and adulterous man; a lying and marauding colonialist figure. 18 P_R_A_C_T_I_C_E_S is not a piece about the Odyssey, but rather a danced response to it. The archaeological metaphor of the palimpsest has guided the work: ancient texts, scraped clean to make room for newer documents but still retaining visible traces of the past. The piece seeks to explore the complex, layered traces of narratives and behaviours existing under the seemingly stable ‘I’.” ​​— Andrew Turner Presented by Danse-Cité in partnership with La Chapelle Scènes Contemporaines.