Performance of 'Goldberg Variations' by Jurij Konjar

A memory of a moment, almost three years ago: I was returning home from an evening rehearsal. 

Then there's a gap in my memory... The next moment I remember I'm in the hospital, being told that I had been attacked and brought there, four days ago. That happened two months before my 30th birthday and at the beginning the Goldberg Variations process. The initial recovery took two months, while the full recovery took six. Besides loosing the sense of smell and still not remembering those four days, everything returned to normal. What shifted was the perspective. In 2007 I've started by looking at the video work based on Steve Paxton's 1986 performance 'Goldberg Variations by J.S. Bach, played by Glen Gould, improvised by Steve Paxton'; first copying movement, then focusing on what I saw beyond the movement. Since 2009, improvising The Goldberg has become like a friend I look forward to spending time with every day. While improvising I've tested the questions that appeared and answered them with more observation of the video, giving myself the freedom to fill in the gaps with imagination and my own findings; first pretending I was understanding how Steve's dancer mind works; then understanding and accepting, that it was my own. Events unraveled and I went along; passing by a solitary working period in Buenos Aires; and another in dialogue with Steve Paxton and Lisa Nelson. The process took off and became a practice, which started taking shape inside a bubble of here-now; as a one hour meeting between the music, myself and the audience. 

With gratitude to Steve Paxton and Lisa Nelson for sharing, for their guidance and hospitality; to Guido Reimnitz for his continuous support and friendship; and also to Emil Hrvatin and his 'Fake It!', which stimulated this project and continuously challenged its values.