• How this kind of  performances developed / would you tell me about the history – who  started, when and where?

BL started in 2004. It started with a question  of  Mark Koolen, the artistical leader of the Theatre residence Pick Up. That is an alternatieve theatre space in the middel of Amsterdam.Fo r more check www.pickup.nl. He asked me to create a venue where all people that use  PU are inlcluded in , these were CI dancers, actors, dancers, singers, a DJ and body  therapists.

Since I am into intercative theatre and the venue I was asked to create for is the famous Paradiso, a night club in Amsterdam, I intended to do sth without a 4th wall, following the principle: The borders between art and life should be kept as fluent as possible. Furthermore, my influence  from Felix Ruckert needed to find is way to be expressed in my definition of theatre. I am fascinated by his work but want to find a  theatrical form to formulate critic and develop an own style of interactive theatre, too.

• One of the key words  in what is happening during the performances is ‚unconciousness’ – what is  your experience in connection to that?

One has got to be conscious about the unconscious parts of BL.  It requires a special sensivity, allertness and  mutual respect from both host and participants, by consciously trusting and being open. You get confrontated with memories, past, dreams and hidden aspects of creativity and your self. Also fears and bad memories as a  confrontation. That is what you can call unconscious. In my opinion, being blindfolded does not mean you are kept unconscious. For me it is a tool to get more consciosus about yourself and how you communicate and relate to your environment on a personal and theoretical level.

• While observing the  others after taking off my blindfold I remember a man in his 50’s dancing  like Travolta and really enjoying himself. It was wonderful! What has  happened and given you a strong impression during the performances?

Participants crying after the performance because of happiness. A father embracing  his son whom he met really met  blindfolded in  BL.  The overall playfulness and openness of  participants. The sunny day  on the beach in Bloemendaal where we spontaneously created a BL for kids, and how they were playing in the sand and throwing with water and laughing. The first time I worked with dement people with BL material and I manged to get an old dancer in a wheel chair, wanting to get out of the wheel chair and dance. The first time we gave a management development trainings and they were playing and improvising with each other as children.We held the workshop in an up building on the 11th floor. They all got inspied by see birds who watched from outside and imitated them flying. The last LefLounge in a province in Holland where an older lady was nicely confused about herself, writing in the guestbook: ‚I did something I have never done before’.

The fact  that it is possible to stimulate the bodily intelligence while working with sensual tools  as in the BL. That a piece about communication, trust and senses creeps under the skin of the participant. That it is possible to create a bridge between (not) seeing and feeling. That dance and movemet is prooved to be more precies concerning descriptions of inner landscapes and emotional circumstances. Theatre goes back to the body.

• Were there particular moments that stayed with you?

A night in Pick Up, where all ended up in a coloured cuddle hippie CI jam, where the borders between hosts and participants dissapeared. At the end, we were all applauding each other.Like everybody applauded and smiled all over the face.

• What were the  challenges and rewards for you?

They still are the following: How to admit love in a theatre piece that is not performed in a theatre but in society? How to seduce participants to move and follow and to be actively involved? How can the roles between life and art, between the hosts and the participants be more fluend? How to make a BL experience accessible and transparent for lots of people, like kids, sick laying in hospitals people handicapped people? How to transmit the experince to give it as tools to work with to an institution?

We create a space with rules, wherin participants for a limited period of time, can meet in multiple ways: silent, verbal, physical,  with people they know, they used to know and with strangers. Complex realtionships will develop, that all together will create a ritual. Art in a BodyLounge is to admit to be sensual. Art can be touched.

We need a moving culture and a touching culture, in which diverse forms of closeness, love, friendship and being together can develop and can  be lived and played with, all next to each other. Like this, lots of different realtionship can develop, what together form important meeting points in society. Bl is a playground for  various ways of meeting and  communicating. We need a structure in society wherein a healthy way of physicality and safe, trustful sexuality without moral stigma can be  lived and played with. Free the body in a  body-positive attitude and to find a more importance for physical communication in society.

• In Zürich there is The  Blind Cow Restaurant, where staffed is primarily by blind people and that operates  in darkness to give a new sensation to the ordinary eating experience. What  is your experience with blind people, have any been in the audience or  took part of the performance as a performer?

It is not meant for blind people. The blindfold is just a tool to create intimacy. I know the idea of blind restaurants and I have been in one in berlin already. Again, what impressed me the ost was the half blind waitress who guided us towards our table. We  had to trust her and by doing so, there was a spezial connection between us, a kind of caring dependancy. That is waht I want to give to participants  of BL and of course with twisted roles.

• What is the  intention for the people organizing BL?

Making BL accessible for different kinds of venues and target groups, like in a form of CandyClub for nightclubs, a training for managers  under the title LefLounge and  creating  tools and forms to the Bl  material . Developing forms to teach the BL material to different groups of people.

• Is this a  performance, a workshop, a therapy experience, or something else?

It is a bit of all, but at the end it is a social happening. It is a theatrical proposal   to learn sth new about urself.

Quotation Julia Jadkowski one host of the bL and a choreographer/thetare maker herself:

‚’Today i talked to someone about the body lounge. there is for me a big question of our responsibility. does the paticipant has choices? can he say no?

i wrote down some qustions, thoughts… it’s all in theatre terms – well, that’s what i’m busy with right now anyway…

We overwhelm the audience with an experience – in which way do the guests have choices? How to make clear that they can make choices – especially as preparation for the chill-out space? Or do we want to manipulate them completely? If yes, towards where do we want to manipulate them? what is the experience we want to give to them? what’s our guidance?

What’s the relation of fiction/reality? What’s the theatrical element? First I would say we mix them completely. The experience is as real for us performers as for the audience. But when I look a second time, I question that.

Just the fact that participants are coming as participants and even if we don’t call it a performance, they are coming with the openness to give themselves to a situation. And because we place it in a theatre context, they trust it completely.

Do we want to give the participants something? Something that we are attached to, that we wish them to take it? That we might be hurt if they don’t take it? Do we create a ground for exchange? What could be the ground? It’s not equal – how can I not overtake their decisions?

do we want to give something as people? as performers? do we know something what they don’t know? about touch? about communication? do we want to meet on more equal level then in other performances? also on more equal level than in secret service? because felix clearly says dancers know something about touch, that “common” people don’t know.

if we want to meet on more equal level and work with improvisation and our personal qualities – how do we make that clear? i have the feeling that’s what we are going for, especially because of the chill-out space and because we cannot stir anything there, people make their experiences alone.

do we make that clear in the structure? do we have the clarity for ourselves as performers?

Quotation Gilberto, an experienced theatre maker and a teacher for kids, also a host in the BL about the fiction aspect:

’I’ve been thinking about your question: “is BL a theatrical performance, dance or a personal experience?”.

Before answering  this question, I’ve got another question: what is a dance or theatre performance? There are different ways of performing… but I believe there is a common point between all those ways of acting…or dancing. It’s all about fiction!

we tell them that we play with their bodies and we hope they will understand us… .. we do our best!

BL is a real and personal experience… It’s a  private bond between the host and the guest…and I think everything may happen… but we are totally responsable for every word we say and every action we take… Sometimes I play it rough… and I don’t care too much  what people feel… I’m an actor and I’m used to theatre performance: fiction!

BL is not fiction… is it??

How can we convince our guests that we are  playing, that we want involve them in a play where everything can happen… happiness,sadness, cruelty, cynism and so on…

IT is not only about trust and feeling safe because “not feeling safe” and “no trust” are also interesting feelings  to me.

Sometimes people get confused… and don’t understand what is real and what is not…Is that something interesting to make  it deeper? In my opinion: Definetely Yes!!’

• How were the  rehearsals organized?

They are ongoing and a source of new ideas, feedback and staying as a tight group who still develops the BL as a living kosmos.We have got two kinds of performance: One right in front of a gig where we tune in as a tight group rehearsing and guiding each other with the help of spezial BL vocabulary. The second one is a regulary exploration group where we physicallc create a question and leave some space to discuss afterwards with invited guests.In that rehearsals, we research about form and content. The underneath short brainstorms of Julia and Gilberto are a good exaple of first  physicially exploring and ending up discussing an interesting subject as if BL is fiction or real.

• BL has been  performed also in club events. How did it change the mood of the whole  evening – for example people dancing wild and using stronger expression in  their dance after the performance?

They danced more sensual and intimate, concerning bodily distance and tenderness. They took more risk to show themselves. They forgot after a while again. They dared to show themselve fragile for a short period of time. They physically expressed feelings and their need wanting to be  close(er) to some body.

• What is the feedback  from the audience – do you have fans coming to experience every performance?

Yep, we do have fans that keep comming back and  we offer them the so called ‚strippencards’ so that they – how often they come- pay less, and  more and more get involved in an active playful way as new host. For more detailed feedback I send you a short summary of a guest book that we always give around after.

• Would you comment the  “secret service” performance that you have made together with Felix.

I joined Secret Service right after it was made, so I was not part of the creation process. I can recommend it to everybody.Have a lok at texts from his websites.

• What are the plans  for the future?

Tons: Work on the CandyClub idea to make us flexible for nightclubs and dance venues. Develop managers training called  LefLounge. Give monthly BodyLounges in Amsterdam. Give workshops about BL.

• Could BL happen in  Estonia? How would it be possible to organize it?

I could offer a kind of workshop I can teach the material to a mixed group of people. The group ideally consists out of body therapists, dancers , physical actors and musicians.We can show the result as an open  presentation around BL.

• Would you give some  ‚games’ that people could play by themselves without the performance  situation in connected to being blindfolded?

I would love to give some games. The blindfold is just a tool to create intimacy and a reason to be close enough to share physical expression and body language. We easily judge and get judged by the visual sense and give an opinion about a (theatrical) situation. In  the CandyClub die I try to teach Contact Improvisation to a dance crowd.We lean on old childeren games, improvisation structues and develop new games to be interactive and in exchange.

• Are there any photos  that you could send to illustrate the article? These could be from the  rehearsals as well.

I attach some fotos from rehearsals and BL’s, BoodyLounge on the beach,  trainings (LefLounge) and parties/nightclubs (CandyClub).