An early version of Parliament organised in Hydra (GR), 2014 © Cristina Gangos

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Michael Kliën on Parliament, and choreography embedded in social life

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An early version of Parliament organised in Hydra (GR), 2014 © Cristina Gangos
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Before a 7-week choreographic event gets under way in Athens, its initiator speaks about ‘social choreography’ to encompass configurations of socialisation

I met with Michael Kliën, choreographer and scholar at Duke University (US), to talk about his upcoming project Parliament, which will run for seven weeks (12/06–27/07/25) at the Benaki Museum in Athens. Kliën, with the physique of a basketball player and an enthusiastic manner of a savant, effortlessly plunges into his favourite theme: ’social choreography’ – a term coined by Andrew Hewitt back in 2005 to examine not just how social order is propagated but also the interplay between aesthetics and politics. Kliën’s work emphasises exactly the political aspects of choreography in our everyday life, choreography understood thus as ‘an act of framing relations between bodies’, as a wider grammar of patterns, which allow us to explore creatively our being in the world with others. Though he has worked with established companies and other major institutions – Martha Graham Dance Company, Ballet Frankfurt and New Museum, among others – Kliën has always remained true to his atypical understanding the role of the choreographer: ’a negotiator, a navigator and an architect of fluid ecologies we are all part of.’

This background helps to understand the core proposition in Parliament, where there is no choreographer in the strict sense and there are no spectators either. So how is this peculiar ‘parliament of bodies’ configured? Anyone can contribute to it, either solely or in groups; some people will have participated in preparatory meetings and will bring their own groups of individuals, communities which are co-present in the city but rarely get to share a common space. The whole point to this bringing together is not to remain attached to one’s group, but to allow different configurations of moving together, of understanding, thereby enacting a space for collective presence. There’s no specific outcome or anything predetermined to look for: you might see people lying on the floor, you might see people moving around, you might want to observe only, or participate vigorously.


Parliament in Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, which ran for four days in 2018 © Cristina Gangos
Parliament in Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, which ran for four days in 2018 © Cristina Gangos

For Kliën, choreography is ‘emergent in character’, not necessarily deriving from the authority figure/choreographer who creates a dance piece and decides a priori a sequence of steps or actions to take place on stage. It’s ‘more interesting if people bring different skills to it,’ he says. In other words, you won’t be judged upon your dance skills or any artistic expertise; rather, this gathering proposes other directions of appreciation. In fact, being part of Parliament requires slowing down, going back to what Kliën describes as ‘mammalian behaviour’ since there is ‘no talking, no shaking hands, no electronic devices, no escape to the outside in this benevolent deprivation chamber’. Not to worry though: it’s only for several hours (ranging from 3 to 6 hours according to your availability).

In our technologically driven societies, in which our phones are less an accessory and more a prosthetic to our own body, I understand that Kliën aims at a much-desired disconnection with the digital world, in ways though that could re-invigorate the social tissue, allowing us to focus on more subtle layers of socialisation. Though one might think of various social groups organising their own instances of socialisation – I could think of techno culture which has been widely assimilated – bringing a wider participatory framework within institutions like the Benaki Museum is a really challenging project. I had in mind the Marina Abramović Institute and their seven-week As One programme at the same museum, back in 2016, which had almost the same objective, of bringing back authenticity in our social relations, ‘to unburden ourselves of daily distractions in order to focus on and engage with a raw, timeless space where every connection is possible,’ as mentioned in their programme.


Parliament in Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, which ran for four days in 2018 © Cristina Gangos
Parliament in Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, which ran for four days in 2018 © Cristina Gangos

Kliën not only insists on no separation between audience and performers, but also thinks of this ‘relative taking over’ of the Benaki Museum as strategically important because it implies ‘using the institution in a way it has not been set up for, (thus), to use it seamlessly.’ If Parliament is about the redistribution of power, allowing anyone who joins to imagine a different way of sharing and transferring that potentiality in different occasions – other institutions, interpersonal relations, etc – then there are numerous ways to approach the ‘taking over’ of the Museum for these seven weeks. Is this, I ask, similar to John Holloway’s proposal of ‘changing the world without taking power’?

Kliën is sceptical of the aspect ‘without power’, because he describe also things that are attainable with power (such as accessing funds for economic viability, securing infrastructures for producing and rehearsing, programming in advance), how power might allow you to create the ground for other things to emerge. He even suggests seeing ‘cultural technologies’ as part of an evolutionary process, embedded in an ecological way of thinking, responsive to both social and natural complexities.

But can a performance set an example for addressing social and ecological matters? Kliën responds quite assertively to my question: if choreography is understood beyond the strict sense of creating a work of dance, implying instead ways in which movement (as) thought can escape its institutional arrangements and invite us to experience more complex, more mysterious aspects of social life. For him it’s just a matter of ‘thinking choreographically’; movement and thought connect in surprising, imaginative ways, which could trace the possible reorganisation of existing institutions in society, both educational and artistic.


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Dance needs to be far less intellectually lazy and much more curious within the world, and take seriously what it discovers

Blue Quote Mark

What does this imply, practically? Parliament, with its pliable structures and porous boundaries, is one attempt to put these ideas into practice, and to escape the ‘beautifying existential bargain’ of conventional theatre in which audiences, sitting comfortably in the auditorium, are expected to ‘have a spiritual disclosure at exactly eight o’clock’. It’s not the only way, of course, but Kliën emphasises that ‘dance needs to be far less intellectually lazy and much more curious within the world, and take seriously what it discovers.’ ●


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12/06–27/07/25 Benaki Museum, Athens, Greece
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linktr.ee/parliament2025athens
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