Iridescence: sharing transformative, intimate female narratives.

“Iridescence: sharing transformative, intimate female narratives.”
This evening is curated by queer dance artist Robin Nimanong, in Plein Theater the 2nd of November. This evening shares the works, research and processes from Leyla de Muynck, Goda Žukauskaitė and Qiyun Zheng. Three powerful stories that discusses dance and theatre of today. Themes like transformative power, beyond the body and overcoming cultural perceptions; will be translated and intimately shared and experienced.

“COCOON” by Leyla de Muynck.
Leyla is a performance artist that combines fabrics and crochet together with her background in contemporary dance. Her work COCOON is a poetic approach to a reoccurring theme within her work: death. The cocoon she crocheted stands for transformation. The caterpillar creates space for dreams and the subconscious. Both significant elements in Leyla's work. Like herself the performance COCOON keeps transforming. Seeking for a way to intimately work together with the audience and sharing this transformative experience.

"When I am dreaming, I feel I can connect to ‘the departed.’ People I care about because we are both in a bodyless state. Losing someone close to you can make you grow up quickly and forces you to transform yourself."

“Body” – sharing of the 1st research phase by Goda Žukauskaitė.
With a background in theatre, dance, and performance art, Žukauskaitė moves somewhere along the cutting edge of all three. To her, these disciplines are not mutually exclusive, but rather feed off each other. “Dance is mainly a tool that I use. I feel that I cannot label myself as a dancer when creating performances that, while rooted in physicality, do not prioritize dance steps per se. For me, dance is much more than just steps – it's an ongoing physical transformation that occurs on stage.”

Body is collecting an archive of different physical bodies and bodily memories. Exploring the identity of our physical body as a source of history and experiences versus a cultural body carrying certain beliefs and social constructs. It’s a duet between two identities in one body.

"A Knot Manifesto" by Qiyun Zheng
Qiyun is a recent graduate with a Master's study in Performance Practices. Their practice-led research explores the contorting body as a human knot - both physical and a metaphor for their entangled identities, practices, communities, and the in-between positionality of East and West. Contorting is an ongoing process.