Sal(u)to

The coronavirus pandemic has changed the way we relate to ourselves and other people for more than a year now. Social conventions have changed and been readjusted. The act of greeting has changed. When we happen to meet someone, what used to be spontaneous and natural has become a moment of uncertainty. One has to observe how far away one is from the other person and whether it is more appropriate to greet with gestures or only with words. This makes the act of greeting an uncomfortable moment. Hence my need to create “Sal(u)to”, an unconventional way of greeting that allows you to free yourself from the rigidity that this pandemic situation imposes even on the social convention of greeting. “Sal(u)to’ consists mainly of jumping upwards from a standing position and extending the arms towards the sky. This type of greeting refers to the transition ceremony called ‘ADAMU’ (the jumping dance) of the Kenyan Masai tribe. This dance, for the Maasai tribe, symbolises the farewell to their old life and the welcome to the new one of the Maasai warrior, and in the same way, the jumping of “Sal(u)to”, symbolises a temporary transition from the rigidity of the pandemic and quarantine to a moment of lightness, light-heartedness and pure joy in the momentary encounter with the other person, thus leaving behind the rigidity of social distancing and forced quarantine that led us to this new “normality”.