Sep 10–12. Physical Empathy / Tyra Wigg

We are the soft hands that bathe your hot forehead. We are the firm elbows that soften your stiff connective tissue. We use sensory telepathy, tele-care, sound-touch. We twist and turn joints and time when we treat and transform both the individual and collective body.

Physical Empathy is a choreographic fiction in which the dancer engages in a physiotherapeutic dialogue with designed objects which associates to different body parts and organs. The methods of interaction are inspired by experiences from different healthcare practices, including massage, mobility assistance and medication. The audience is invited to feel along with this exploration of affective connections between the object and the human. When the body and the objects are mutually informing each other with real or imagined sensory impressions the question is raised of who is treating whom?

A tactile soundscape of amplified materials is accompanied by electronic interpretations of one and the same historical Swedish folk song, here with newly written lyrics. It recalls a past in which the caregiver with extraordinary medical knowledge was condemned as a witch, and a present in which hegemonic structures and an obsession with financial gain endanger the health of even the registered nurse. By exposing and challenging this narrative, Physical Empathy offers a radical speculation on what health care might be.

 


Concept, choreography, text, performance: Tyra Wigg
Dramaturgy, text: Miriam Coretta Schulte
Scenography, costume: Julia Benon & Tyra Wigg
Music: Aram Abbas
Mentoring: Jessica Huber & Lucie Tuma
Sound design consultant: Siri Jennefelt
Light design, stage technique: Ronald Salas

Co-produced by: Weld, Stockholm & Theater Roxy, Basel
Supported by: The Swedish Arts Council and the City of Stockholm
Created in residencies at: Theater Roxy, Weld, Cima Città/Health Fiction, Art Lab Gnesta

Thank you everyone who has visited the process and contributed with your valuable feedback <3


TYRA WIGG
is working with contemporary dance and performance. She studied dance, choreography, music theory and mime acting in Stockholm. Since spring 2021 she is also based in Switzerland where she does master studies in ”Expanded Theatre” at Bern University of the Arts, HKB. As a dancer and performer Tyra worked with artists such as Gisèle Vienne, Heiner Goebbels, Alexandra Pirici, Olof Runsten, Marina Abramovic, Éva Mag, Adele Essle Zeiss, Marie Fahlin, Dorte Olesen, Virpi Pahkinen and Stefan Metz.

Tyra develops her artistic works with a desire to scrutinize and emphasize the physical affect that occurs between performer and audience. Alongside her artistic work, Tyra has over ten years’ experience as a massage therapist. Her experiences of care labor strongly inform her stage pieces NAPS  which premiered in Weld 2019, middle time (2020), and the ongoing 1-on-1 interactive performance Phone Massage which explores haptic interaction on geographical distance.


Due to Covid-19, we carry out our public events with a limited audience, safe distances and follow the public health authority’s recommendations.


Weld is supported by Stockholms stad, the Swedish Arts Council and Region Stockholm