AN INTRODUCTION

Echoing her 2024 exhibition Reconstruction of a Danse Macabre at the Museo Reina Sofía in Madrid, Olga de Soto revisits her documentary performance An Introduction. On a bare stage, supported by archival materials and videos, de Soto recounts her research on Kurt Jooss’s The Green Table (1932)—the legendary ballet that denounced the rise of fascism and the horrors of war just months before Hitler came to power. Retracing a complex journey marked by questions and discoveries, she sheds light on what lingers in the margins. What remains of a performance in the memory of those whose work ensures it continues to exist today? What role do dancers play in the transmission of this antifascist dance – in its making and afterlife, in the trajectories of its makers, and the political moment it rose from?

Olga de Soto is a Spanish choreographer and researcher based in Brussels. Since the early 2000s, her work has focused on memory, trace, and transmission, blending choreography with documentary, performance, visual arts, and installation. Her work has been widely presented at festivals, theaters, and museums across Europe and Latin America. In 2013, de Soto received the Society of Dramatic Authors and Composers (SACD) Prize in Belgium for Performing Arts, recognizing her research and creative work on Kurt Jooss’s The Green Table.