3 june performance

Every friday in june there will be performances in the studio of The Dance Collector and ENS. Marjan Raar is performing a dance solo. She has a company in Finland and creates collaborations and performances there.

in her own words: in choreography I like to mix different art forms and disciplines. I find it a challenge to mix unusual combinations of people and their works.

For many years I have been working with live music. Many well known musicians in Finland and abroad have been participating in my pieces. Also visual artists, actors and new circus artists have been joining my choreographies.

My movements have a strong emotional grounding in every day life and I am searching for the flow in movements and the stories behind. My dance is based on the mixture of my background in martial arts, a bit of acrobatics and modern dance techniques. Although my pieces are choreographed, I do like to improvise movements within a set structure. Therefore I often leave some parts in my pieces open to” that what feels right in that moment”.

time: The show will be held at 20:30 at the bizetpad 1, 2324 JP, Leiden

Rens Borkent (ENS) Is performing a solo.

I am often asked by my colleagues, "do you believe in gods?" Many might feel as if this is a silly question, but I do not believe it's a silly question, just the wrong question. The idea of a God implies an entity that supersedes you in a complete and infinite way. Something that holds a power without limits, that not only knows the whole story, but can write and rewrite that story at will.

Within our reality, I do not believe that any such being exists. There are a number of entities that we are aware of, in one way or another, that hold tremendous power over our universe. Many would call these beings "Gods", and while they certainly hold many of the characteristics of a "God", they are still limited. Their reach and scope is limited to our reality just like we are, and though they may carry more weight within it they are no less bound to it as we are.

So then, what would truly constitute a God? This entity would have to totally supersede our reality, to be able to look over our reality not like we would look over ants, but like we would look over our thoughts and ideas. A being so totally separate from our reality that we may as well be words on a page to it. This entity, a true author of creation, could be considered a God.

But what of that entity? Would it not share the same limitations within its reality as we do within ours? It may exist within a higher tier than us, but surely it must follow the same rules we do. But who sets those rules? An entity higher than that? One that supersedes not only us, but the entity that supersedes us, and the one after that as well? Where did the echelon originate, then? Who or what was the original architect of the architecture?

It is unlikely that we will ever know anything about the being or beings that supersede us (if they even exist), not in any tangible way, let alone any being that would supersede them. It may very well be that we are just one of an infinite number of realities, stacked on top of each other in every direction, influencing those below us and being influenced by those above us. This echelon, upon which sits ourselves and everything that ever was or will be, would likely be the most fundamental aspect of the organization of creation. The very foundation of all things.

I have often hypothesized on the nature of the echelon, if it even exists, and about whether it would be possible for an entity to see other realities above them or below them. We are currently able to manipulate our own reality, albeit in crude and imperfect ways, and our ability to travel through space is limited at best. It is likely that the only entity capable of ascending through this hypothetical echelon would be one that, by virtue of its very nature, must supersede anything that supersedes it. Such an entity would, as the end result of the logic of its creation, be forced to supersede itself, spiraling ever upwards through the tiers of reality, unable to break free from the bonds of its nature. Perhaps this entity may even someday supersede its creator, and become a host unto itself, the pinnacle above all other pinnacles. A tower that, as a part of its design, must be higher than every other tower, including itself.

Such an entity obviously cannot exist, as any ascension to a higher plane of reality without changes to the entity's psychology would no doubt break the being's cognition, making it more similar to an ascending stone than any sentient creature. Once the entity surpassed its own creator, it would have nothing but itself to rely on to prepare it for the sheer scope of narrative it would be exposed to, and would be wholly unable to even begin to comprehend what it would experience. But what an experience that would be!