Cognitive Acrobatics

Cognitive Acrobatics: The mental exercises we use to avoid patterns that we no longer find useful or desirable.

This performance physically manifests the mental movements one uses to avoid unwanted behavioral patterns. In a space where office-core meets 80s style aerobics, the three performers dance, lecture and climb through yarn to express their inner movements.

“We name these mental exercises “acrobatics” because it is a method founded upon the extravagant movement of the mind needed to change your predisposed behaviours. Just like when a non-acrobatic would try to inhabit the pattern of an acrobat, the effort needed is substantial and usually leads to imperfection. Through this trying, one challenges themselves to movements that do not feel comfortable or familiar, but hopefully with time you will feel gracefull, as acrobats are viewed by the outside eye“

The audience is faced with three characters who shapeshift. Going from business people almost untouched by the gaze of the audience, so much in role that they become cold, to businesspeople in conflict with eachother – maybe mirroring different parts of their own inside conflicts- to business people freeing themselves, breaking out of what in the beginning looked like perfect characters. During an aerobic inspired dance scene they become new characters, suddenly breaking the fourth wall. Communicating fast information in buzzwords and powerpoint-format with the tagline “You can always book more podcasts and seminars”. The characters mimicking the internet-academic personas. Academia being shortened to 1 minute TikTok videos. A struggle the students themselves have to deal with at some point. With research presentations, defending long papers in 20 minute time-slots, having to summarize big amounts of research to taglines in their resumes, while competing with influencers sharing information in a very digestible way.

Photographs by Jelena Pajić
Special thanks to Emma Krafft for feedback