Allegory of Decay

Allégorie de la Déchéance

(2018 - 2020)

All production: Tiffany Mc Swaker

Project in quarantine

(French below)

The performance Allegory of Decay is the metaphor of human species that is common to its own loss. The femininity of the subject exacerbated, the fair becomes the object of idealization and lust, pushes the woman to its climax, and condemns her to her own disappearance.

Referring to Pygmalion's syndrome, admiring his Galathée statue triggers the paradox of femininity which becomes an object of lusts and loses its first reproductive function.

The roses captured, faded, cut off from their vitality support the idea of a sterilized woman.

At the antipode of an incipient bud, the roses and the subject are crystallized. The annihilation is materialized by a black tarp void that over the performance comes to engulf the subject.

Our existence is as short as a flower that fades. Temporality diminishes us but subscribes to the acquisition of our full consciousness. We are the only directors of this nascent bud.

This raises a real question about the transience of things and the right measure.

Exaggerated femininity is not synonymous with hyper-sexualization.

Connected to restrictions, my final choreographic project at the university had to be done in my bedroom, considering the worldwide quarantine.

I thoughts it was judicious to gather some subjects I studied in Dance & Theories that marked me. The Stillness and Still Act that I used at the beginning of my performance was perfectly matching with inert sculpture Galathea from The Myth of Pygmalion, which is my subject of inspiration. The consciousness raise, move invisibly through the body, and being there is already a performance.

And the other subject we studied, Expanded Choreography, for me was referring to the Choreographic Objects from William Forsythe as Black Flags.

This opened me to the sentence « pushes the woman to its climax and condemns her to her own disappearance. ». These different ideas started to bring me a plan for choreographic composition, from the stillness to the annihilation of the subject, engulfed in the choreographic object. The metamorphosis idea came and I had to create a journey inside of these close chains. The sentence « Exaggerated femininity is not synonymous with hyper-sexualization. » gave me an idea of the climax merging with the chaos. I felt the need to work with grotesque and provocating movements concerning the absurdity of relating feminity with sexualization. This was the first thought for the fourth part of my composition.

Through the process, I decided to compose the soundscape made to measure for this musical exploration to be a source of inspiration also for the piece and to get my musical inspiration from my movement research.

I wanted to develop both together in correspondence. Instead of choosing a piece of music already done that would have influenced my project and my body vocabulary or, to have to find a music that would fit the journey, atmosphere, and dynamic of my creation.

La performance Allégorie de la Déchéance est une métaphore de l’espèce humaine courant à sa propre perte. La féminité du sujet, ici exacerbée, la fair devenir objet d’idéalisation et de convoitise, poussent la femme à son paroxysme et la condamne à sa propre disparition.

La féminité est caractérisée par un maquillage outrancier, la mise en valeur du corps par des attitudes posturales.
Faisant référence au syndrome de Pygmalion, admirant sa statue Galathée, déclenche le paradoxe de la féminité qui devient objet de convoitises et perd sa fonction reproductive première.

Les roses capturées, fanées, coupées de leur vitalité accompagnent l’idée de la femme stérilisée.
À l’antipode d’un bourgeon naissant, les roses et le sujet sont comme cristallisés.
La néantisation est ici représentée et matérialisée par une bâche noire qui au fil de la performance vient engouffrer le sujet.

Notre existence est aussi brève qu’une fleur se fanant. La temporalité nous amoindrit mais souscrit à l’acquisition de notre pleine conscience. Nous sommes les seuls régisseurs de ce bourgeon naissant.

Ceci pose une véritable question sur l’éphémérité des choses et de la juste mesure.
La féminité exagérée n’est pas synonyme d’hyper sexualisation.