solos is an ongoing research project that emerged from the segundas na z program.
Drawing on the inherent qualities of the solo, different people are invited and challenged to look inward at their practice and to expand and reimagine new boundaries for what a solo can [be].
A collective is as strong—or stronger—as the recognition of the countless solos that compose it.
How can a solo inform the collective? How does the structure and survival of the collective also depend on the strength and design of the different solos?
*
À terceira é de vez
Connor Scott
À terceira é de vez is a stepping stone in the process of a new solo work I am developing which will premiere in April 2027. Invited by Laura Gama Martins in the context of the solos editions of segundas na z, I was invited to present something thinking in relation to the concept of a solo.
In 2017 I was studying dance in London when I stumbled into an almost empty dance floor in a club on a night out with some friends. There was one dancer occupying a corner of the floor seemingly sliding and spiralling around to the beat. I failingly tried to mimic his movements but quickly gave up in awe of the slippery mechanics of the step. It wasn’t until years later I understood he was dancing a step born out of the British 1970’s Northern Soul (…) — movement mirrored elements of the dancing marathons of the 30’s or even the 17th century being a weekend ritual to physically exert the constraints of work during the peak of industrial labour in working class Britain. (…)
Beyond the high kicks and splits, it was the quality of the spiral that I stayed thinking about. Their bodies seemed to oscillate and coalesce in an omnidirectional state of flux, not performing to each other but almost drinking each other’s energy to lubricate the rhythm of the room.
(…) This made me think about a conversation I had with a friend. We were discussing different revolutions through history and the conditions in which they made them. She then proclaimed “We don’t need a revolution anymore, we need a spiralution, otherwise we revolve back around to the same place as before”. (…)
In my last works, I’ve been busy with the idea of excavating the presence of dance in various places; mainly folk archives but also at the site in which the performance takes place; observing dance as a sort of mineral that is always there and just needs bodies to dig it. (…)
This will be my third solo work and second time sharing something at segundas na z. For this occasion I asked friend and musician Moss Kissing to accompany me simultaneously making his Soul DJ debut. Having several overlaps in our own practices with folk, Moss and I collaborated on my first solo back in 2021 and therefore are reuniting on the dance floor.
