This is not about me!

This is not about me! is a solo performance by Michaela Dašková, created in collaboration with Cécile da Costa and Marika Smreková. This is not about me! is about hierarchy, patriarchy, populism, brainwashing and the inability to read non-verbal communication and feel what is behind the words. The performance is in body language, in English, Czech and other languages that create a soundscape of world political events.
The production walks a fine line between parody and critique, subtly highlighting and exposing what is not meant to be seen. It is based on specific and media-known political cases, but they have a universal message and in their generality reflect the values and actions that are promoted in different social environments and systems.

It is a physical narrative of a dziad, a storyteller, a trickster - who borrows the contemporary speeches of various powerful political figures and comments on the world through voice, gesture and body. The narrator's body transforms under the influence of various political narratives, juggling words, shouting, stuttering, burbling, and the voice flows through space, running, crawling or straining...

The performance is conceived with absolutely minimal need for technical background - both for the blackbox and for alternative or public space.

The first part of this work was created and presented as a work in progress in Freiburg, Germany in July 2020 at the end of the study program at TIP Schule für Tanz, Improvisation und Performance.

Who are these heroes fighting for? What do they say when they let the words environment, growth, wealth and more out of their mouths? Do we live in the same world? Whose voice is it that speaks through the body?

Concept, performer: Micha Ela Dašková
Voice and movement guidance: Cécile da Costa
Dramaturgy and directing collaboration: Marika Smreková
Light design: Filip Horn
Co-production: Studio ALTA a Řekni Ř, z.s.
Lenght: 33 minut

Photo: Kristina Zindulková, Michal Hančovský
Trailer: Pavlína Komoňová
Graphic design: Barbora Sléhová

The project is supported by: Ministry of culture Czech Republic, State fund for culture Czech Republic, TJ Sokol, FilmArche (DE), Prague 5, Institut for Innovative Education and TIP-School for Dance, Improvisation and Performance (DE).