Performance at Huset i Hasserisgade Aalborg on 3rd August 2021

DANCE TRACES – Ritualistic Action Paintings is a multimedia performance by Sandro Masai and the guest performers that happened between the summer of 2020 and 2021 in various institutions and festivals in Denmark. It is an action-painting performance that produces music, dance, paintings, videos and photographs.

DANCE TRACES is inspired by the Yoruban mythology and the paintings are dedicated to the orisha Ogun, a warrior god. The god and protector of soldiers, blacksmiths, metal workers and craftsmen. Nowadays Ogun is also associated with technology. The Yoruba community spans the modern states of Nigeria, Benin and Togo, but traveled to the whole world through the slave trade in the colonial time and is highly influential on the Afro-Brazilian culture. In the Yoruban tradition we sing and dance to worship the gods, the orishas. Each orisha is worshiped in rituals with a certain rhythm, dance and colour or combination of colours.

In this performance Sandro simultaneously sing, dance and paint appling acrylic paint on large canvas using his own body in direct contact with the materials. The painting style is abstract expressionism and the dance expression is Japanese butoh.

This artwork is about RESISTENCE, DECOLONIZATION and AFROFUTURISM.

Here is an article on the newspaper NORDJYSKE about this project (in Danish): DANCE TRACES – Ritualistic Action-paintings by Sandro Masai

Here is another article on the platform art publications IDOART.DK (in Danish): DANCE TRACES (lab)

Production History:

Kulturmødet Mors 2020, 22nd August – performance and interview to Simone Aaberg Kærn. Address: ONLINE.

LABYRINTH group exhibition 2020, 19th and 20th September 2020 – performance and artist talk. Address: Brolandingerne, Havnegade 15, 9400 Nørresundby. Guest performer: Jens Bugay-Hougaard

DANCE TRACES Online performance, 20th November 2020 – performance ONLINE. Address: Nordjyllands Kunstnerværksted. Guest performer: Jens Bugay-Hougaard

Online Performance Art Festival 2020, 19th December 2020 – performance ONLINE. Address: Nordjyllands Kunstnerværksted. Guest performer: Jens Bugay-Hougaard

Huset i Hasserisgade, 3rd August 2021 – performance and exhibition opening DANCE TRACES. Guest performers: Annette Irene and Jens Bugay-Hougaard

Kulturmødet Mors 2021 – 20th and 21st August 2021″Kunstøjeblikke”. Guest performer: Jens Bugay-Hougaard

Alter Festival 2021 – Aarhus – 2nd, 3rd, 4th September 2021

Genstarts Kunst – Aalborg Kommunes Kunstfond – 11th-19th September 2021 – Exhibition and performances.

Guest performers:

Annette Irene,

Christian Høgh,

Guillermo Neuenschwander and

Jens Bugay-Hougaard

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Artwork title: Four Dances For Ogun. Materials: acrylic on canvas. Size: 400cm x 500cm. Exhibited at Kunsthal Nord 14/10/2022 – 28/01/2023

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DANCE TRACES – Ritualistic action paintings. Exhibition at Huset i Hasserisgade, 03/08/2021 – 20/08/2021. Photos: Niels Fabæk at Huset, Aalborg, 03.08.2021

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Photos: Rikke Ehlers Nielsson at Labyrinth group exhibition Aalborg, 19.09.2020

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This project is kindly supported by Statens Kunstfond, Slots- og Kulturstyrelsen and Aalborg Municipality

Inspirations:

The Yoruba from Prehistory to the Present