Artistic and ethnographic research titled Dance Cartography – Reimagining the Environment focused on mapping the environment through dance in the area where mirila originated. Mirila are funerary monuments consisting of two stones placed at the head and feet of the deceased. They are also known as bilješke and počivaljke. The research involved literature review, interviews, conversations, field visits, dance improvisations, filming and video editing, reflection on establishing a choreographic method, and documentation of the method itself. Our primary concern was how the environment influences the moving body and how this environment can be mapped through dance, in other words, how we can mark it for ourselves through movement. We marked the space, not by leaving a physical trace in it, but by recording it in our own internal environment. The question we asked was how dance practice can be enriched by moving out of the dance studio into different environments. For documenting the method, we chose the medium of film, thus creating a permanent record of the dance – a kind of “funerary monument of dance.” Our aim was to combine artistic research with scientific methods used in ethnography and anthropology in order to develop a hybrid method and enrich artistic research.

The result of the research is a working method documented in the form of a methodological-experimental-dance-ethnographic film.

Author: Matea Bilosnić
Performers: Dora Brkarić & Nataša Kustura
Cultural Anthropologist: Mario Katić
Cinematographer & Editor: Vladimir Miketa
Dramaturg: Nikolina Rafaj
Interviewee: Anka Sjauš

The project was realized with the support of the Ministry of Culture and Media of the Republic of Croatia.