Description: Dark tale is a performative action which is magical and mundane at the same time, a fictional situation of presence for two performers. The basis is the study of the shadow as a concept — a category of an unpleasant and invisible to the eye condition. Starting with an associative map, visual images, through analyzing your shadow qualities, carefully hidden from the society, the authors of the project bring everything they have developed into the movement score, thus redefining the characteristics initially negatively perceived, and endowing them with humanity, allowing their existence, revealing their variability and presentation to the outside. Within the project, the shadow is defined as an artistic image of the invisible but felt; it is characterized by such features as implicit manifestation, specificity, essence. It is more of the content than the form: a complex energetic category that can set the direction of movement.
- Video, 24 min
- Composer: Alex Havran
- Voice-over by Masha Dugina
- Hair styling by Gevorg Agamalyan
- Shot, edited and sound recorded by kykyvideo
Special thanks to Garage Museum Studios and Ivan Isaev and Irina Sopina
Elza Abdulkhakova Elza Abdulkhakova (b. 1990) is an artist and curator working at the intersection of contemporary dance, performance, and video art. Based in St Petersburg, her practice explores corporeality, movement, and the performative potential of the body in both solo and collaborative projects. Abdulkhakova has worked with key cultural institutions in Russia, including the Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, V-A-C Foundation, and the N.A. Nekrasov Library. Her artistic research extends into curatorial initiatives and experimental laboratories focused on movement and identity.
Since 2020, Abdulkhakova has collaborated with artist Herman Stroganov as part of the Abdulkhakova Stroganov Dance Company (ASDC), investigating the intersection of dance and video. She is also a member of forbidden body language (since 2021) and tridevyat’, a St. Petersburg-based artistic collective (since 2024). In her choreographic and performative projects, she engages with various artistic mediums, creating dance installations, video works, and site-specific performances.
Her educational background includes studies at the IDC Professional Online Program (St. Petersburg), the New Dance Academy of Olga Tsvetkova, and the Institute of Contemporary Art (Moscow). Additionally, she has completed programs at the Higher School of Economics (Moscow) in collaboration with Goldsmiths, University of London, the Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, and St. Petersburg State University.
Selected Projects
2024
- Laboratory "Boredom in Dance", part of the bodily practices module at the "Boring Summer" festival, GES-2, Moscow
- "Tridevyat'", "Tridevyat’-2", "Four by Four", dance performances within the Sergei Kuryokhin Music Festival and the exhibition "Pop-Mechanics of Sergei Kuryokhin," CCA Kuryokhin, Alexandrinsky Theatre, Russian Museum, St. Petersburg
- Performance "Mermaids", Digital Opera Performance "Pushkin’s Fairy Tales. Life as a Miracle," Musical Comedy Theatre, St. Petersburg
- "Unsupportedness" (dance film) screened at "Another Way to Say" (St. Petersburg), "KinoTanets Permsky" (Perm), and SOMAfest (Tyumen)
2023
- Dance installation "Something About Love", Museum of Nonconformist Art, ESCABO Contemporary Dance Stage, St. Petersburg
- Performance "Bom", part of Elena Morozova’s masterclass, House of Radio, St. Petersburg
- Choreography for the performance "Siren", experimental dance laboratory YAMIF, Stanislavsky Electrotheatre, Moscow
- Lecture on identity in dance and curatorial practice, as part of the "42" artist talk series, Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow
- Solo "Run, Elsa, Run", Open Day at the festival "Dance Without Mind and Love," Shift Studio, St. Petersburg
2022
- Performative practice "Nothing to Dream About", GES-2, Moscow
- Dance performance "Commentary", by Elena Petiko, part of the Young Choreographers’ Residency, ZIL Cultural Center, Moscow
- Opera Lab, stage direction for "The Rake’s Progress", directed by Mikhail Kolegova
2020-2021
- "100 Words/100 Movements", +DNO+ Festival, Moscow
- "±3/±30", a five-hour dance marathon in collaboration with Nyu Simakina
- Video performance "Shadow Tale", Abdulkhakova Stroganov Dance Company
Curatorial & Research Practice
- Since 2019 – "6 Square Meters Movement Laboratory", an artistic research project on corporeality
- 2020 – Curator, VII Moscow International Biennale for Young Art, shortlisted for the Innovation State Prize in Contemporary Art ("Curator of the Year" category)
- 2023 – Curator of "WHY F" by Alena Tereshko, Garage Museum Studios
Residencies
- 2022 – Residency at "The Station", Kostroma, curated by Tatyana Gordeeva
- 2020 – Lesnoye 11, in collaboration with Elena Drozdova, Nyu Simakina, and Evgenia Fomina
Abdulkhakova continues to develop her practice through interdisciplinary collaborations, expanding the dialogue between contemporary dance, performance, and video art.
