Sandra Kramerova questions the perfect moral in Salto Moral

She grew up in Slovakia, where she started dancing from a very young age. The experiences in her childhood influence her work dramatically and by using visuals and underlining music she creates a phenomenal performance. In this interview Sandra shares what inspired her for her latest work Salto Moral: censorship, the cancel culture, AI and how this affects our freedom. What comes to mind is can we express ourselves fully in this day and age?

Interview: Kim Ramos

   When did you fall in love with dance?

I have always danced, ever since I was little. After I finished my Bachelor Choreography, I spent over a year in a professional training of the Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company in Ga’aton. I was able to blossom there, it is a dance village in nature so by the time I was 22 I had an incredible inspiring journey as you can imagine! I moved to New York after that experience.

   You started your career in New York, how was that like?

I spent 7 inspiring years in New York, where I grew as a dance artist and a person. It was an exciting time, filled with many     professional and personal challenges, fruitful collaborations and encounters with interesting artists. I think especially fondly of my years studying Master’s degree in Dance at Sarah Lawrence College, where I met incredible cohorts and mentors. I got to know myself better as a maker and got a chance to define more closely what it is that I want to say with my dance.

  At what point did you know you wanted to become a choreographer?

I had this longing to share a story. I wanted to tell something, to create a piece that was my own invention. I never liked dogmas even though I was really disciplined. In New York I got my Masters in Dance where I adopted the approach of developing my own making practice and technique, without dogmas but through rigorous research and rehearsals. Everything fell into place.

  All your creations have an underlining thought, you aren’t afraid to contradict or to tell a controversial story, what about Salto Moral?

It is all about morality. I appear as Alexa, the virtual assistant. The audience plays a part and act as the Supreme Court of Justice and must decide what is justice. When you think of this it can be scary that someone is programmed to have all the ‘right’ answers: diplomatic, not real, covered with ‘carefully’ picked words and lines. Alexa’s political view and careful subjectivity are the perfect gateway to robots where everybody is likeminded. And no individual opinion is allowed.

  How did you come up with this concept?

The idea came from the cancel culture. In life and in art it feels more and more like some kind of censorship is happening. We are more afraid to share our opinions, because we might hurt somebody. We live in democracy but at the same time we have strong opinions about what is appropriate. Otherwise, it is supposed to be cancelled or it has to be excused. People are so cautious. We miss the subjective point of view we used to have.

  What is it lately, are our feelings made of glass?

Seems like it! I hear a lot of artists and creative people who cannot share their true story or complete creative piece, because it has to be adjusted into something ‘glass’-prove. Because what if you might do or say something that offends somebody.

Everything that is somewhat out of the ‘perfect’ objective, is super immoral. And should not be shared with the world. And so, the status quo sometimes becomes more important than personal ethics/morality.

  Can we still express ourselves fully?

Well, we cannot just share what we think as easy as before and we need to lock things inside. We avoid being controversial more. But I have found a way by using this as a concept, so I can still express myself. I will keep fueling my passion and curiosity through dance and share it with others. I will never stop doing that. And there are others like me who keep on doing this and keep on sharing their point of view in one way or another.