The Praxis sharing with Lou Ditaranto will consist of a warm-up and mainly focus on her most recent research connected to her solo How to Sit Like the Devil. The work evokes reflections and questions around our connectivity to ecology, exploring where our own individual sense of ‘the wild woman’ archetype might (or might not) exist within this realm. One keyword attached to this exploration is ‘shapeshifting’, where we’ll invite surrealistic and playful thought patterns to accentuate this exploration. Nearing the 2nd and 3rd praxis sharing together, we will also be introduced to her ways of working in the beginning phase of a creation. Lou's version of Outlining (Aquilizan, Engebretsen, Ditaranto, Meløe, 2022) is an abstract outcome of a scattered Lab-mode. The method mixes movement, drawing and writing together, as an attempt to delve deeper into a theme; an idea; a feeling, where this method might prompt unexpected deciphering of an exploration. Keywords are play and openness. For this part you are invited to bring your own note/drawing books and preferred items to write/draw with. Lou might be able to supply some additional material in accordance with her own writing/drawing interests.

Lou Ditaranto is a French-Norwegian dance artist based in Oslo. She works freelance as a performer, choreographer and facilitator. Her Master and Bachelor are from Northern School of Contemporary Dance, where she was part of the company Verve. She recently joined the team of Punchdrunk for their London-based immersive production The Burnt City (2023), and has worked with choreographers such as Hege Haagenrud, Yaniv Cohen, Panta Rei Danseteater, Extended Play and Mathilde Caeyers. With Verve she also worked with Botis Seva, Mari Carrasco and Lalí Ayguadé. Lou also enjoys creating and researching her own works, where she most recently explored her solo How to Sit Like the Devil in collaboration with musician Kristoffer Lislegaard. She has shown works at platforms such as Mind the Gap, Dans / 5, Dialogscenen (NORA) and Dance in Prosess (FNND). She enjoys finding cross-disciplinary research methods for her own projects and praxis, where she most frequently utilises 'Outlining'. Outlining is a drawing-and-writing praxis in relation to movement exploration, which was co-created with Aquilizan. Engebretsen and Meløe (2022).

Photo: Nyvoll Film og Foto.