Swear

Swear is a homograph; this linguistic peculiarity where the same spelling of a word takes several meanings. On the one hand it represents making a solemn promise, committing to doing something or affirming a truth. On the other, it is the act of uttering insults. Swear therefore has two antagonistic definitions/functions.

The live performance Swear resulted from a group workshop around the notion of swearing with a contemporary dance group of elderly people in April 2017. The dozen of participant performed this work during the Deviant Art Festival at la Reliure in Geneva Switzerland. What was at stake during the workshop revolved around the following questions : How swearing could become a mode of communication that is not necessarily vulgar but complex? How this function could deconstruct intergenerational social barriers within the public space? How to renegotiate proxemics, this socially constructed physical space that represents the distance between individuals?

Collaboration with the members of the Atelier de dance des aînés de Meyrin and Stefania Cazzato.

Photography : Alvaro Romero.