BODIES AND GRAVITY

Gravitating bodies

A tonne presses against the ground

And from above presses down on those who press down on the ground

a voice intER-RUPTS, Niepce

Slower, slower.

She welcomes, provokes and guides

like a death doula she insists that

— it’s not about suffering.

as outside, so inside it is ____ 

but also __________

and has its wants, desires and loneliness.

The body, pop(corn)s in space

— it is as                   s                            

                                                                                                                       l                    

                                         o  

w                                          

as possible, from the inside.

like a wound. ‘A what?’ Niepce directs through the microphone,

— an open wound.

nothing but emptiness, but again, it’s not about suffering

it’s a drowning into the ground

inside {of a ∫u∫₱ℓⁿ∫Iøⁿ}

harness, rope and carabiner are skin

through a chain, sometimes deafening resurrection and death

rigidity, and death, octopuses, anastasis, popcorn and flowers

death, in life, in death. 

where? I don’t know... 

it’s a non-place, accidental or essential, that unites sentences

like prepositions, but variable

a kind of   ~e d g i n g ~ 

a suspended pleasure, the first rubbing

not twatic, not phallic, not genital

it is perhaps that place of drive

meditative and cathartic 

— it’s like being a small lollipop that grows and grows, and fades away…

the space gets bigger and pulsates

tssss pa pa

TSS PA ta ra ra

that moves to the floor,

tss pa PA to the walls 

until it almost stops.

tss pa TA RA RA

tssss ha ha

— I’m falling into a tunnel

— I’m a sticky-monster

Ca-boom

— you woke up in a different body.

You are a jellyfish in a spaceship

a frozen jellyfish coming out of the freezer

and drinking liquid that freezes it from the inside

a stuck jellyfish

that has:

- mammoth legs

- and scissor arms

and wants to get off the floor

it wants to get off the floor

but it’s glued to the floor

it becomes big, very big

it’s inside a chocolate pool and floats

— so cool

it’s a chocolate pool

— wohooo!

a magical carousel

that finds unicorns spitting fire from their tails

and spends little moments in the café

goes to drink tea

— hello friend, how are you today?

— so cool, we’re at the café

— she’s a snail

we’re in a snail race

a seXXXy snail

seXXXy

an escargot

— Ah! I’m coming out of my house

seXXXy ha - ha - ha

— my hands are not my hands

— my feet are not my feet

the body is RRRus-Ty 

and wants to leave its place

the body is brøken

and begins losing its limbs

ta ta ta

the body tries to stand up straight AND

THE BODY TRIES to stand up straight

but it’s very ________ hard

the movement is tense 

and the body falls

the body 

falls

the body cannot find balance

the body

falls

the body won’t get ogranized

the body is disogranized =dISmamtled

the body wants to leave the ground, it wants to go up

the body wants to

s

t

a

n

d

up straight and it’s very hard to move

the body is tense, teNse

rigid large

and the body is pulled to the ground

the body brea/ks 

TA TA TA

tsss HA HA haa

  \/\/\/ crrrrr the chains, a grinding of teeth, against gravity

/\/\/\/\ we don’t stop

a field of self-organisation, where each body is part of a temporary

superorganism that resists gravity and insists

hypnotic, millimetric, the murmuration of these ̌  starlings ̌ ̌̌̌̌̌̌̌   ̌

the skin turned inside out, and with horns

breathing fire from its tail like a tuning centipede

tskka tskaka kutsaka tcha tcha

— you’re stuck.

Worms in the toilet, waiting for the bus

Ha-ha-ha the pass to an exorcisT wormification 

and while they fry in the sclera

and rub against a samurai’s blade

comes a taste of the end

that drips to the bottom of the groin

the armpits, and the fingers

going around the spots 

in a slug slalom between marks

               of birth

of life

               of death

of life

               of birth

of death

until they reach the comfortable, for whom, half-light.

Ary Zara

NOTE: Text written based on some direct transcripts from Niepce’s process, to which other words, provocations, and thoughts were added.

Diana Niepce in conversation with Kate Marsh

About Diana Niepce

Diana Niepce is a choreographer, dancer, curator and author. Graduated from the Escola Superior de Dança, completed an Erasmus program at Teatterikorkeakoulun in Helsinki, and holds a Master’s degree in Art and Communication from Universidade Nova de Lisboa. She is an associated artist at Espaço do Tempo and has created several works, including Forgotten Fog (2015), Raw a nude (2019), 12 979 Dias (2019), Dueto (2020), T4 (2020), Anda, Diana (SPA Award, 2021), The Other Side of Dance (2022), Enfreakment (2024), Utopia (2024), Norm (2024), and Hornfuckers (2026).

As a curator, she has been involved in the Political Bodies cycle (2024, Culturgest) and the Reunião project (2025). She also develops work in training and inclusion within the performing arts, particularly with artists with disabilities, through initiatives such as Fora da Norma (2023) and Norm (2023).

As a dancer and performer, she has collaborated with various national and international artists. Her most recent publications include the children’s story Bayadère (CNB), the book Anda, Diana (Sistema Solar), and the short story “Broken and Smelly, Are the Stones.” for the Rota Memorial do Convento.