PRACTICING DEFENCE
15’ 36’’, color, 16/9, HD, 2023
Commissioned by 25AV European Platform
Directed by Sara Bonaventura
Sound by Anna VS June
Performers: Joanna Toumpakari, Marietta Manaroli, Elina Demirtzioglou

Sara Bonaventura (IT) and Anna vs June (GR) present Practicing Defence.
The piece focuses on the Xing Yi and BaGua styles of Wushu Kung Fu as practiced in the Athletic Club Inner Fist,
in Athens. The shifu (teacher) and two students, all of them also professional dancers,
repeat a series of movements alone, together, competing and complementing each other. Practicing defence.
Based on the recordings of their performance and drawing inspiration from works such as
Maya Deren’s Meditation on violence, Sara Bonaventura and Anna Vs June aimed to create a
narrative loop centered on female empowerment and solidarity.

Featured On/Screenings:
Panoramica 23 by Videoart Container, curated by Milan (IT), 2024
Triennale Museum, Agorà installation, curated by 25AV, Milan (IT), 2023
CAVE edition, Modena (IT), 2023
25AV Platform, 2023

25AV is a pan-European platform for audiovisual arts and performance supported by
Kiosk Radio, Radio Raheem and Radio 80000.
The platform is co-funded by the EU Creative Europe Programme.

Together with the musician Anna VS June, we were also asked to create a mixtape for Radio Raheem