Mother Tongue

About

Mother Tongue is a solo dance research by Alesya Dobysh. The research began in 2020 during a global lockdown in a small 2x2 room, leading to the creation of the 10-minute work, Stop Making Sense, inspired by the falling images in Robert Longo’s Men in the City photo series. Alesya deconstructed her dance background, heavily influenced by footwork-oriented club styles like house dance, to redefine her physicality in connection with gravity, the main shaping force. Four years later, at age 34, she revisits her research, unexpectedly driven to delve into an identity clouded by immigration, alienation, and shame. Instead of avoiding these layers, she embarks on an inward journey to understand who she is beneath what life has accumulated.