IRINA (IRA) DEMINA
(De/Ru)
choreographer / dance artist (LOST & FOUND Ltd.)
born in Poland. Russian, based in Berlin. Made her dance education in Moscow and Hamburg. Graduated from Moscow State Lomonosov University (Faculty of Philology) and received an MA degree in Choreography at Hochschulübergreifendes Zentrum Tanz Berlin (HZT).
As a freelance dancer/interpreter she worked with choreographers Xavier le Roy, Jochen Roller, Angela Guerreiro, Soodong Jung, Halla Olafsdottir, Jessica Nuppen etc.
2013 the full-evening solo performance “Hoomu Nite” got the support from the Cultural Authorities of Hamburg. Her solo “Dark Quark” received the 3d prize in the competition “The best German dance solo”, conception of Alain Platel, in Leipzig 2013. Project “Accumulalalation” 2014 was realised in frames of project funding from the state of Hamburg, 2015 the theatre version was developed in frames of a residency at Tanzfabrik Berlin. 2015 premiere “360 DEGREES” at Uferstudios, Berlin. In 2016 piece for 5 dancers “Traumlabor”, cooperation Theater Strahl and HZT. In 2017 premiere “BANSHEE RAGOUT”, supported by Kulturbehoerde Hamburg. In 2017 piece for 3 dancers “Be water, my friend” (in frames of Tanzkomplizen, Podewil, Berlin). 2018 Norwegian-German project “Herbarium LAB” was part of PAF Festival. 2018 – “ACT II” (NEWORKS at ADA-Studio and residency at Seoul Dance Centre).
Works as a choreographer for drama theatre productions.
In 2017 she participated in the international art residency “Deep in the Mountains” (PyeongChang, South Korea) – project of Korean Art Council for Wnter Olympics. In 2018 was choreographer-in-residence at Seoul Dance Centre (with project BODY POETICS).
Irina’s research on folklore and folk dances “RE:thinking folk dance” continues in 2019 in frames of the following residencies: Fjelldansen and FRIKAR Smia (Norway) – Sept.2019, Kulturfabrikken Vesteralen (Norway) – Nov 2019.
2014-2016 she was a scholarship holder of Alfred Töpfer Stiftung F.V.S.
Certified vinyasa yoga instructor (RYS 200 Yoga Alliance).
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My current choreographic interest lies in the sphere of experimentation with body fictions by activating the corporeal imagination and using kinaesthetic tuning improvisation scores. I’m interested in collective fantasies, utopias, transformative experiences, investigation of intense physical and emotional territories, psycho-physiological impulses, body memory folding and unfolding into movement material, corporeal intelligence, body and mind connections, magic, parallel realities, constructed universes, witchcraft, ancient genetic and evolutionary wisdom, folk dances, edges between fiction and reality, links between aesthetics, materiality, ritualistic practices, conventions… Currently exploring and developing the artistic integrative approach to dance that focuses on the usage of guided poetic imagery for facilitating deeper and more nuanced kinaesthetic experiences of movement. Is choreographic practice an embodied philosophy? How does a movement vocabulary form itself? How can theatre space turn into a place where collective fantasies can happen?
Seduced by interdisciplinary approach, where a convergence of different media aims at building up a surrounding, where an experimentation with constructing fictions and realities can take place.
…a constant laboratory of body fictions….
….an embodied mythology…