The role of the “mother diva” Judy Garland is particularly interesting to Ludvig.
Although Garland was a fantastic performer, her role was transformed into that of a
catalyst for the powerful celebration of love that erupted spontaneously during her
concerts. For a few hours, her immense mass appeal helped her audience overcome their
fragmentation. Within the safe framework of the auditorium, a brief, short-lived community was created. The concerts’ bigger purpose was to host an evening where gay men
and women could be themselves. Garland was simply the hostess of an evening where people
could forget about their everyday life and enjoy time together.
How could a contemporary dance piece produce this atmosphere? Not through representing
diva in any way, but purely focus on the atmosphere the concerts created, and the love
the audience felt for each other as a group? The content of the performance shouldn’t
necessarily speak about the outside world, it should create a situation in itself, as a
whole, as something separate, different, better and more hippie than the world outside.
