This dance performance critically scrutinizes various mechanisms of normativization, oppression, control, and exploitation of the personal sphere – gender, sexuality, desire, feelings, body – in which capitalism, patriarchy, and other systems of repression today intersect and interact. Grounded in the theoretical framework of queer Marxism, which examines the conjunctions of capitalism, class struggle, and queer culture, and challenges traditional Marxist analyses and queer politics, UNSTABLE COMRADES emphasizes the fluidity and the complexity of identity as starting points for critical agency and contemplation of a justice future. Through a comparative analysis of intersections of queer culture, art, and Marxist ideology within socialist/communist and capitalist societies (Yugoslavia, Romania, Russia, USA, UK) – choreographic research and construction of physical material in the performance unfolded through the exploration of historical examples of artistic practices directed against social and state dogmatism, hegemony, authoritarianism, and depoliticization. These instances include: somatic practice of partisan dances in interwar Yugoslavia; artistic performance procedures from punk counterculture, new conceptual art and pop-art in socialist Yugoslavia; queer-artistic opposition in communist Romania; Queercore practices of the American new left, etc. The work explores the legacy of queer emancipation through a constant process of constitution and warping of resistance influenced by both Western ‘liberal’ societies and socialist values for a justice society.

Concept and choreography:
Igor Koruga
Dramaturgy:
Dimitrije Kokanov
Music:
Vladimir Pejković
Performance:
Mariana Gavriciuc, Tamara Pjević, George Alexandru Pleșca, Hunor Joseph Varga, Jakša Filipovac
Production:
Marijana Cvetković, Olivera Kecojević, Teona Milićević, Station Service for contemporary dance

Co-production: National Center for Dance Bucharest & Brain Store Project Foundation Sofia through South-East European Dance Stations (SEEDS), APAP-Feminist Futures, The Culture moves Europe mobility grant and the Goethe-Institute; program Creative Europe of European Union; Ministry of Culture Republic of Serbia; Residential program TanzFabrik Berlin e.g.; Tenerife LAV Residential Program.
Thank you: Magacin Cultural centre Belgrade; Atelje 212 Theatre Belgrade.

*This work was produced with the financial assistance of the European Union.
The views expressed herein can in no way be taken to reflect the official opinion of the European Union.