Danceletter readers,
It has, once again, been a while. I’m excited to be back with something extra special for the 30th edition of this irregularly published newsletter: an interview with none other than the person (I’m assuming it’s just one person) behind the Instagram dance meme account that has shined a light into the darkness of pandemic-era scrolling: @somatic_based_content_only, a.k.a. Felden Krisis.
If you’re someone who is (a) on Instagram and (b) interested in dance that might be described as contemporary or experimental or postmodern, chances are you’ve crossed virtual paths with Felden Krisis, whose true identity remains a well-kept secret. Smart, irreverent, and knowingly chaotic, the account pokes fun at contemporary dance conventions and institutions, giving voice, in meme form, to truths we may recognize but struggle to articulate ourselves, or that are so distressing it helps to just have a good laugh at them.
Moving nimbly between granular and big-picture commentary, Felden Krisis regales our feeds with both acutely niche observations that probably only dancers can relate to (“when you cut a small hole in your sock so you can slide but still got some grip”) and critiques of the larger power structures governing the arts. Recurring concerns include Laban notation, smoke machines, the academic jargon surrounding experimental dance, the unequal distribution of resources plaguing freelance dance artists in particular, and, most somatically, the pelvis. (For anyone reading this who’s newer to the world of somatics, the name Felden Krisis is a play on Feldenkrais, a method of learning to move with ease and efficiency that often supplements dance training.)
“Hoping this page single handedly radicalizes the dance community,” one follower commented on a recent post, in which Felden Krisis extended “a personal Fuck You to Jeff Bezos” on the day the billionaire went to space and thanked exploited Amazon workers for helping him get there, against the bleak backdrop of a cultural landscape ravaged by the pandemic. As the account has grown more popular in the six months since its inception, it has opened up to outside submissions and occasional Instagram collaborations. Meanwhile, over on Twitter, its lesser-known companion account, Somatic Based Score Bot, generates movement scores that sometimes read like poetry.
Who is Felden Krisis? I don’t know, and neither do the fellow Felden Krisis fans I’ve asked. “I think they live in Europe,” I speculated a few months ago in a Twitter DM to a colleague, who in turn conjectured, “But American” — a plausible theory. I have a feeling we are around the same age (“old millennials”) but could definitely be wrong. The mystery persists, and as Felden Krisis themself notes, that’s part of the fun. When I reached out with a request to interview them for Danceletter, they told me they are committed to staying anonymous, so we settled on email as an interview format. I sent a list of questions, and Felden Krisis answered.
Above: Felden Krisis’s Instagram profile picture: “a face drawn over copy-and-pasted unitards.”
Siobhan Burke: Why did you start @somatic_based_content_only? What was your vision for the account when you started it?
Felden Krisis: Felden Krisis sprung out fully formed, born out of pandemic boredom and existential angst sometime this past February. I felt that while there were robust meme accounts for some dance styles, like ballet (@balletmoods) and voguing (@voguingmedia), contemporary dance and performance had been left largely un-memed. Somebody had to do something about this: enter Felden Krisis stage left.
SB: You now have more than 17,000 followers, and many of your posts have several thousand likes. At least in my social media circles, you're very appreciated. How do you feel about how the account has been received?
FK: It’s flattering and a little baffling. At first it seemed like the account would level out with a few hundred devoted followers of hyper-niche memes about postmodern choreographers. Then it kind of took off quite suddenly after @biscuitballerina (the dancer Shelby Williams) re-posted a meme about companies not supporting female choreographers except for Pina Bausch.
It’s very abstract for me in many ways, an amount of followers in the thousands, especially for someone who is used to making work and performing for very small audiences. But I’m glad that it resonates with as many people as it has. I don’t think that what Felden Krisis is saying is very unique, I just think they filled a meme vacuum at a time when people, dance-makers, were online even more than usual.
Above: The first slide in Felden Krisis’s most-liked post to date. View the full post and caption here.
SB: What other meme accounts or online spaces have inspired you?
FK: This might come as a surprise to you, but Felden Krisis is a big fan of memes in general. Recently I’ve been inspired by other accounts gracing niche genres with niche memes, my favourite being @24memespersecond, an Instagram meme account for experimental animation. There is kind of this attitude of, ‘We, too, deserve grade-A content with self-referential humor and memes about our favorite experimental animators.’ I have no idea what the recurring meme ‘my other hog is in the fog’ is referencing, but it delights me. What is the hog at hand doing? How did the other hog get in the fog? Someday I plan to get to the bottom of these hog-related queries. Moreover I thought Felden Krisis could do something similar for the dance field.
SB: You’ve mentioned that you’re committed to staying anonymous. Why is anonymity important for this project?
FK: Traditionally memes have been anonymous, and Felden Krisis has some trad tendencies. I think Felden Krisis is only able to occupy the space that they do because they’re an abstract entity, a face drawn over copy-and-pasted unitards, and this in turn (hopefully) provides a space onto which people can project their own thoughts and feelings.
I do worry sometimes about leaving Felden Krisis bodiless, headless, as anonymity on the Internet cuts both ways. I don’t want to be ‘mean’ and needlessly tear people down from my position of relative safety or fall into meme cynicism. I also don’t want to create a pretence of universality, to speak for the experiences of vastly different bodies that are not Felden Krisis’s. This is tricky water that I'm still learning how to navigate. I’ve tried to open the account to submissions, to create more of a community or an outlet for others to vent, commiserate, or shitpost. But there is definitely a more problematic side to anonymity that I'm willing to acknowledge.
I think the other reason I’m so committed to staying anonymous is simply because it's fun. And virtually impossible in any other manifestation of dance or performance! I mean I guess it would be possible but way more arduous than just running a meme account.
Above: The first slide in a post captioned “Consider this.” View the full post with caption here.
SB: It seems to me that your account resonates so widely in part because you’re saying things that people talk about in private but (perhaps understandably) are afraid to say publicly. Do you see it this way?
FK: Well, this might tie into the ‘problems attached to staying anonymous’ thread. It does definitely feel strange to make a meme about a living choreographer who may or may not appreciate it, though I really would like to stress, in most cases the meme is made in good faith and Felden Krisis is probably a total geek fan of said choreographer (unless it’s someone like Alexei Ratmansky, who from his prominent position has made problematic comments about gender roles in ballet and more recently about ‘cancel culture’ causing the tragic suicide of Liam Scarlett. Whistle While You Work described him once as ‘a man who gets paid to make adults hold hands and run around in circles,’ an opinion on the caliber of his work that Felden Krisis shares.)
But sure, dance and choreography jobs are scarce and job security precarious. I think there is a lot of change in the dance world right now, that dancers are collectivising, talking seriously about their rights, trying to root out abusive practices and calling attention to how different bodies are treated / mistreated.
It helps if some of the heavy lifting can be done by organisations that have the backs of the dancers and can call attention to problems without jeopardising individual careers. Whistle While You Work and Okay, Let’s Unpack This come to mind. I mean, Felden Krisis just makes memes, but I think memes can embody certain frustrations fairly well and can be traded around without individuals having to articulate those exact sentiments or without having to attach their name to those sentiments.
I think it’s worth noting that a significant portion of people who submit memes want to remain anonymous. I’m not sure it’s always quite this serious, though. Sometimes it’s good just to let off some steam. Or smoke. (machine.)
Above: A post from June 13. View the original with caption here.
SB: Many of your posts mention the struggles of freelance dance artists. What do you think is needed to make freelance careers in dance more sustainable?
FK: A socialist utopian future? This is a big question. I feel like a lot of these aforementioned groups are focusing on demanding better pay, contracts, and working conditions for dancers, and rightly so. The problem for me is a lack of sustainable funding and the infrastructure to support it. In northern European countries, it’s possible to live off of government grants and project-based work if you're one of a few lucky choreographers / dancers. In the UK, it’s becoming less tenable, and in America? Forget it. Only a very lucky few companies will be able to cobble together enough grant money and private sponsorships to support a company that has maybe six full-time contracts. And what about dance-makers in the Global South?
That being said, I think many dance-makers find ways to make dance a meaningful part of their lives and their communities outside of institutional funding and capitalist structures. I think finding ways to share funding between institutions (art spaces, big ballet companies, theatres, etc.) and freelancers could be a good intermediate way to help spread the wealth and invest in communities, as it is often freelancers that engage with the local. Long-term funding for dance-makers over a period of years would also be a game-changer, instead of always thinking of funding only for specific projects. Freelancers do a ton of unpaid work (grant applications, admin work, organising studio space / travel / accommodation). Recognising that this is labor and paying for it accordingly would just be leveling the playing field between us and other professions.
Ultimately, arts funding depends on the position art occupies in a society (or the position it’s been directed into, as with the decline of the NEA and the laughably small budget allotted to the arts in the world's richest nation). It also matters who is sitting at the decision-making table. There’s a lot of gatekeeping of what constitutes ‘real’ dance and who gets funded at all. Funding boards need to commit to diversifying both themselves and who they are supporting, especially dance practices that aren’t rooted in ballet, modern, or postmodern dance.
Above: A post captioned “merch.” View the original with caption here.
SB: Some other recurring themes in your posts are the pelvis and smoke machines. Not quite sure what my question is here... just wondering if you could free-associate for a moment on either / both.
FK: I have to confess I know almost nothing about the pelvis. I’m pretty sure it's made up of several bones, maybe some cartilage? Does it bend? I couldn't locate my sitz bones on the first try. But it’s very photogenic, the pelvis.
And smoke machines do objectively make most performances better on a scale of adjectives ranging from ‘watchable’ to ‘fantastic.’ Who needs VR when you have 25% visibility levels? One time I went to a show that was so maximum-smoke-filled that my friend had a panic attack. Unforgettable.
SB: Any messages you’d like to share with dance critics / writers / journalists like myself?
FK: Keep reviewing those underground dance shows. The ones that are literally underground. Tunnels, caves, abandoned subway systems. They need more visibility.
SB: What do you enjoy most about running @somatic_based_content_only?
FK: True to my somatic roots, I most enjoy the meme-making process itself. Memes are a little like mad libs, and there is a certain thrill that comes with inserting a contemporary choreographer into that blank. It’s a practice in and of itself, and has been a way for me to engage with the dance world when I haven’t been engaging with dance itself very much.
Above: The pelvis is a recurring theme in the Felden Krisis oeuvre. View the original post with caption here.
SB: What’s most challenging about running @somatic_based_content_only?
FK: Not succumbing to the total distraction of ‘The Internet.’ It’s quite often that I will have a large stack of unopened emails on my desk and my brain will come to me and say, ‘What would be more fun right now? Answering emails, or making a meme?’ As well as trying to figure out the limits of Felden Krisis. Who they are allowed to be, speak for, criticise, poke fun at.
SB: Where do you see @somatic_based_content_only going in the future?
FK: World domination of course. No nations, no borders, no co-production contracts. Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen will be on the K-5 curriculum.