Project “Interdisciplinary Body”

On the 21st of October, a group of art students from Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Italy met for the ten days intensive program called BIP, which is short for Body Interdisciplinary Project, organised by TLÜ BFM choreography study program. Really, it was the start of great friendships, opportunities, and collaborations. As mentioned in the course's description, the aim of this intensive 10-day program was to explore the relationship between the body, dance, and choreography within the broader framework of interdisciplinary research. Combining theoretical discussions and hands-on practice, the course investigated how dance can intersect with other fields such as visual arts, music, technology, theatre, and cultural studies. Ten days were filled with workshops and lectures from artists who had different backgrounds, interests, and nationalities.

Photo: Vilen Moreno

However, I would like to share my experience working in a smaller group. At the end of the project, we had a few days to create something in smaller groups and do our own research on what body interdisciplinarity is. The group I participated in had students originating from Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Italy, Portugal, and Switzerland. Not only did we have different cultural backgrounds, but we also had different specializations. The only rule we had when forming groups was that we needed to have students from different countries, and I would say we passed this checkpoint with flying colours. In three days, we were working with different disciplines, and the way of combining sound, visual, and body was truly a tricky part. Now, looking back, I think the body or bodies gave inspiration for the disciplines. For audio, we gave our voices and made sounds with our bodies to give the artist the material. For animation, we recorded parts of our bodies. So, I would say the result was a body presented through different mediums.

I would like to share a thought that came to my attention in a Tallinn University course that started shortly after BIP ended. A course KOI7068.FK Internationalization, Multiculturalism, and the Challenges for Business Management made me analyse what had happened during these ten days. It was not my first time working in an intercultural environment, but I feel like it was the first time I really started paying attention to how intercultural communication works. I would say that our approach to working in small groups was very cautious and accepting. We always tried to make ourselves as clear as possible when sharing our ideas or views. Giving feedback to other members of the group was also extremely thoughtful. The difference did not only lie in our culture or nations, but also in our artistic approach, which made it interesting to find the middle ground.

I also feel like this intercultural communication adds a lot to the term interdisciplinarity. Since the main goal of body interdisciplinarity is to intersect and find different approaches to combine art fields, I find that the more we connect this topic to intercultural communication, the more interdisciplinary it could get. Many new ways will come to the surface because people researching can each add their own disciplines. In this small group, I feel proud that we all silently agreed to be flexible with our approaches and beliefs, since it made working together a lot easier, and I finished the project with a warm feeling, wishing I could create something more with them.