Elizabeth Ward: Phototropismus & the Lampenfieber

Phototropismus & the Lampenfieber is the beginning of an artistic research growing out of the Anti Fascist Ballet School and Techno Witch Ballet projects. At its heart is a desire to collectively build psychic defense practices, thought of as „An End to Apocalyptic Thinking“, as a first step towards agency in a potentially terrifying world. Informed by the method of using what one knows to learn something new (as described in Jacques Ranciere’s The Ignorant Schoolmaster) Lampenfieber/Stagefright becomes the quasi-known in the equation. Pre-performance anxiety is one of the most common but unpredictable aspects of performing. For some, the fear of performing can be incapacitating while for many there is a certain alchemy that happens only within the pressurized environment of live performance. In this research the experience and management of elevated nervous system responses, which often manifests in uniquely individual ways and dealt with privately, is re-conceived of as a common resource to build from. Looking towards the photosynthesis process of plants and Audre Lorde’s The Uses of the Erotic: The Erotic as Power this beginning asks what can be found through stepping into the light.

Elizabeth Ward is a dancer, choreographer and performer currently living in Vienna. She is interested in collective methods of art making and has performed extensively throughout North America and Europe.