Seven to the Seventh: A Global Dance in a

Shared Virtual Stage

PROPOSAL
Seven to the Seventh: A Global Dance in a Shared Virtual Stage

reconsidering the human condition from the vantage point of our newest experiences
and our most recent fears to discuss what we are doing and therefore who we are,
since the advent of the modern world (Hannah Arendt, The Human Condition, 1977)

INTRODUCTION

Seven to the Seventh is the brainchild of Athens resident choreographer Ana Sánchez-Colberg in partnership
with the Stavros Niarchos Foundation and the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Centre. This
unprecedented event will connect synchronically artists and their artistic communities, in multiple urban sites,
across seven-time zones on the week of 24th-30th June 2019.

We are opening invitations to artists and organizations worldwide, to a global choreography and dance; with
others in our communities, with many in remote sites; a dance between me, us, you and them, to blur boundaries
and thus forge a global ‘we’.

Each invited artist is asked to take on curating local events based on specific concerns relevant to their
community and, through mobile technologies, these local events will be linked synchronically to create a virtual
space inviting participation through movement, performance, sound, and social networks. Seven to the Seventh
instigates active co-creation to celebrate interconnections between local and global mutually affective
citizenship.

The transnational project draws its framework from two interrelated concepts: on the one hand the idea that in
ancient cultures (such as the Judaic, Greek and Chinese), seven times seven was indicative of infinity and, on
the other, the idea from cognitive science that seven is the maximum amount of complex information that the
brain can process. In Seven to the Seventh these two thoughts are synthesized; the number serves as a rule to
generate infinite encounters that contribute to draw awareness to what we gain as communities when we address
the complexity of our simultaneously presence in local and global contexts. Through the project a creative
space is opened to question traditional notions of citizenship.

AIMS OF THE PROJECT

The event is not a performance, but a participatory global jam in order to bridge distance across communities to
create links to identify similarities and celebrate differences.

The project is set in site -specific contexts and will use mobile technologies and social network platforms to
invite communities to rethink their positionality as participants with agency within the global stage.

Therefore, the event aims to nurture an infinite collaborative and participatory play through technology that has
the potential to bring down barriers and promote positive, critical and creative endeavours.

AN INTERCONNECTED SPACE TO EXPERIENCE GLOCAL CITIZENSHIP

 The event will take place for seven days, from the 24th-30th June 2019.
 On each day there will be a 2-hour performative event, seven minute micro improvisations events,
seven times.
 All events are synchronised to 7pm of the various cities participating.
 The linked sites will form a structured improvisation with the view to ask participation from the
general public and the community through:
o SOUND SCORE: a common seven-minute sound score divided into one- minute tracks
narrating aspects of each community’s story, told in multiple regional languages.
o PERFORMANCE SCORE: each city’s ‘minute’ will be linked to an improvisational task,
shared by the artists and audience participants to enable participation and thus contribute to
form the event.

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 o A RESPONSIVE WEBSITE will provide access to the various ‘scores’ that participants can
choose from to participate in an event, or in a remote location, in dialogue with the city of
their choice.
o LIVE ARCHIVE: The website will also serve as a ‘live archive’ of the events with quick links
to the various daily ‘live-streams’. This will enable more people and communities to connect
to the events generating a critical mass in participation as the seven days unfold.

The Experience of the Audience as Participants

The tools previously outlined will enable a playful and creative exploration inviting the audience/participants to:

 DISCOVER the event through social networks or by encountering the event on the day,
LISTEN to the sound-score, VIEW the event once or many times, with the choice of changing
perspective and relation to the event,
 ACTIVATE a score, PARTICIPATE and also ENGAGE with a remote event,
 CAPTURE their experience through mobile technology, SHARE their experience through social
networks and the website and CONTRIBUTE to the ‘live archive’ of the event (photos, videos,
writings, recordings etc), leaving a testament of their contribution to the life of the event.

CONFIRMED SITES:
SEVEN TO THE SEVENTH -- ATHENS
The Athens event will draw our attention to way the city is actively rethinking and reimaging its
future following the critical challenges experienced over the last decade. In contributing to this
process, Seven to the Seventh reawakens the spirit of the ancient ‘PNYX’ the participatory political
site of ancient Athens; the place of birth of the democratic modern citizen. The local sites have been
conceived as a contemporary pnyx. As the meaning of the term suggests we will gather to participate
in physical close proximity to constitute a 21 st century ekklesia: a space to consider matters of
importance in the life of the city, a space that welcomes diverse voices, where all can be seen and
heard. In the context of our changing world, our pnyx is open to all – everyone is invited. Therefore,
it celebrates inclusivity and diversity by asking the question- who is the citizen of Athens when we
are also, citizens of the world, when individuals with diverse abilities, visitors and non-national
residents contribute to shape its life? Through this we aim to activate a space to redefine ‘citizenship
and celebrate xenophilia.

SEVEN TO THE SEVENTH -- Miami, Florida: Municipality of Miami Beach through The
Lincoln Road Business Improvement District in collaboration with Pioneer Winter (lead artist).
http://pioneerwinter.com/ The Collective's Seven to the Seventh event located at the historic district
of Lincoln Road will draw attention to the architecture and landscape, suspending the shopping-driven
rush for seven days to increase awareness of the communal nature of the site.

SEVEN TO THE SEVENTH --San Antonio, Texas: Municipality of San Antonio, in

collaboration with Amber Ortega-Perez (lead artist), https://www.spareworksdance.com/ . The
event in San Antonio will address the challenges currently faced by local artists in their efforts to
refocus that which is valuable in San Antonio’s multi-cultural heritage. Spareworks.dance will be
working with seven San Antonio artists whose roots are tied to this city.

SEVEN TO THE SEVENTH -- Tokyo, Japan: Junichi Fukuda, Fukudance,

http://www.fukudance.com/ Artistic director Junichi Fukuda left his native Japan at age 17 to live
in the United States. For Seven to the Seventh the artist returns to Japan, ‘going back to origin' in a
response to the need to redefine his relationship with Japan and his native culture. The event seeks a

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reciprocal encounter and includes sharing with the community in Japan twenty years of life in
America. The event will create a bridge between the artist, his hometown and his two cultures.

To see a World in a Grain of Sand, And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,

Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand, And Eternity in an hour.
William Blake, Auguries of Innocence

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 PERFORMANCE
TIMES 7TH-TO-
THE-7TH                
                 
TIME DIFFERENCE
CITY/LOCATION FROM ATHENS DAY 1 DAY 2 DAY 3 DAY 4 DAY 5 DAY 6 DAY 7
MON 24 TUES 25 WED 26 THURS 27 SAT 29
    June June June June FRI 28 June June SUN 30th June
                 
ATHENS 0 7pm 8pm 2am 3am 5am 1pm 7pm
                 
NORWAY/SWEDEN -1 6pm 7pm 1am 2am 4am 12midday 6pm
                 
NEW
YORK/FLORIDA/
PUERTO RICO -7 12mm 1pm 7pm 8pm 10pm 6am 12mm
                 
COLOMBIA/ TEXAS -8 11am 12mm 6pm 7pm 9pm 5am 11am
                 
CALIFORNIA -10 9am 10am 4pm 5pm 7pm 3am 9am

INDIA 2 9.00pm 10 pm 4.00pm 5.30am 7.30am 3.30pm 9.30pm

TOKYO 6 1am 2am 8am 9am 11am 7pm 1am

This is a draft schedule of the times of the performances in the sites across the week, depending on which time zone we are synchronising to.
This is still in flux as I am waiting final confirmation.