"What if my body cells could fully perceive the beauty around me and surrender to it?". It was with this question that the Temporary Collective, consisting of Dragana Alfirević, DISCOllective, Jana Jevtović, Beno Novak, Jan Rozman and Dejan Srhoj, began researching the work of Deborah Hay two years ago.

Although all six of them are active in different areas of the performing arts, do their own artistic projects, teach, write about dance, study, curate, produce and work as clowns and/or lecturers, the Nomad Dance Academy Slovenia members were united at this point by the need to approach the work of the pioneering American choreographer Deborah Hay. "The six of us had already worked together repeatedly on various projects in different constellations. We often invited each other to work together - sometimes in a more collaborative way, sometimes in more hierarchical structures, and other times we questioned those very structures. But for this project, we decided to create a framework for ourselves to work with Deborah Hay," explains Dragana Alfirević. "We wanted to work with Deborah Hay for at least three reasons. First: we wanted to learn from her, as she is a source of ideas and knowledge. Second: we wanted to be in touch with the history of our art, with someone whose approaches we believe we belong to. And third: we felt the need for a strong (historical) figure who would advocate for dance practice as an art form on its own, not as something where you 'prepare for the real dance'."

So, the group started the deeper research by watching performances by Deborah Hay and reading her books. They got in touch with the choreographer and invited her over for one month in June 2023. On this occasion Hay shared some of her numerous tools, which are formulated as 'impossible tasks', and which are specifically to sharpen and form one’s own perception. During this time, the Temporary Collective worked intensively on Hay’s tools.

"Turn your fucking head" was one task that Deborah Hay gave the artists. "The simple shift in perspective that happens when you turn your head and position it differently has already caused an enormous shift in my own perception. But also, for example, the tool called 'Thank you', where I am walking through the room and say "Thank you" many times, has caused me personally to perceive myself, others and the things around me differently. Once you get into it, it's amazing and exciting to explore your own perception." Hay's methods often revealed how differently perception can work. It also became clear what political potential lies in exploring the differencies between others’ and one's own perception. "Finding out that although our perception is individually true, it is different for each person and therefore there is not one, but many truths. In this way Deborah’s task was to pull the rug from under our feet."

Following the first visit, a year of regular practice took place before Deborah Hay returned for a two-month visit in 2023, during which she gave the artists a score for a performance that she choreographed at their own request. The score was primarily concerned with the relationship between each individual in the group and the others, the space surrounding them and the musicality that this space contains. The Temporary Collective performed this score several times before coming to a residency at Uferstudios and showing their work on 18th June at Heizhaus. The main question guiding the group in this period was: what is the relation between dance practice and performance and what are the right conditions when dance practice can become performance? The tensions, relations and potentialities between the space of research/practice and the space of performing for audience are what fueled this residency and the collective’s work in 2024.

The Temporary Collective visited Uferstudios from June 12 to 18, 2024 as part of the Life Long Burning module “Creative Crossroads”. Creative Crossroads supports emerging artists nominated by the individual network members with financial and structural support over a period of two years. The Temporary Collective was sent to Berlin by the Nomad Dance Academy Slovenia. Life Long Burning is co-funded by the Creative Europe program of the European Union.