Someone from Home – in the Sense of Belonging to Europe

The project Someone from Home is, above all, an investigation. Creating a space in which the 12-99 generation can exchange ideas and learning from contemporary witnesses who remember specific historical and cultural moments enables us to engage with, understand, and learn traditional movement forms. At the same time, it is important to understand the social fabric in which traditional dance events were embedded, as well as how news and knowledge is exchanged between peer groups in this day and age. Witnesses will be interviewed in advance about their stories and memories. These interviews will be filmed and will form the basis of documentary material, which will be available for access separately or embedded in the performative aspect of the project. European folk/traditional cultures are primarily examined from the point of view of conservatism and under the paradigm of nationalist occupation of meaning. But how else can folk culture be read? What functions does it fulfil? How can it be actualised and interpreted, and does the answer to this question change when it is considered in relation to other forms of traditional culture? How are the readings of codified functions of traditional art and the expression of movement possible? Gestures that have been passed down through the generations sometimes only become visible when they are taken out of context – as evidenced by the Danube Swabian culture after the end of WWII.