A Possibility of an Abstraction: Square Dance
Dancing dervishes
With their ritual, circular movements dancing dervishes (Sufi Muslims) attempt to reach a state of religious transcendence. For A Possibility of an Abstraction: Square Dance Germaine Kruip asked the dervishes to break through the circle and introduce square patterns into the dance ritual. In so doing she challenges them to re-learn a dance that they perform automatically as a result of years of practice. She also shifts their focus from the spiritual aspect to the movement. The dervishes suddenly appear from nowhere. Instead of their traditional costumes, they now wear sober dark suits and white shirts. Is this a protest? Or just a show?
• Germaine Kruip (1970) lives and works in Amsterdam and Brussels. In her installations and performances she examines the various meanings given to geometric shapes in the history of ideas, religion and art.
