Biography Lisi Estaras

b. 1971, Cordoba, Argentinia

Lisi Estaras begins to dance in Cordoba, Argentina. After combining her studies in social work with professional dance training, she chooses dance. Thanks to a scholarship, she leaves Argentina at the age of 19 to study at the Rubin Academy of Music and Dance in Jerusalem. Quite soon afterwards, she joins the ranks of the Batsheva Dance Company in Tel Aviv. After five years in Israel, Lisi moves to Europe and starts her career with les ballets C de la B in 1997. She creates and dances Iets op Bach, Wolf, VSPRS, Pitié!, C(H)ŒURS and Tauberbach by Alain Platel, Tempus Fugit by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, and Learning how to walk by Benny Claessens (NTGent).

In the meantime, and under the umbrella of les ballets C de la B, she choreographed Patchagonia, Bolero, The Gaza Monologues, Primero-erscht and Dans Dans.

Through the years, she starts to make her own work, independently: she creates and dances amongst others Bartime with Einat Tuchman (Campo, Ghent), Cocina Erotica, No  Wonder with Constanza Macras (Schaubühne & Gorki Theater, Berlin), Leche (Passerelle, Kortrijk) and A distancia (Teatro Real, Córdoba).

Lisi makes choreographies for theater productions and works as a coach for other artists/companies. She works on Hiob by Sandra Strunz (Theater, Bonn), Das Brennende Haus by Emilio Garcia Wehbi and Maricel Alvarez (City Theater, Bern), The speech for dancer Irene Russolillo (Festival Equilibrium, Rome)  Het Hamilton Complex by Lies Pauwels (HETPALEIS, Antwerp), Madame Bovary by Michael Decock and Carme Portaccelli (KVS, Brussels).

In 2015, she creates and dances the solo La Esclava together with choreographer Ayelen Parolin (La Biennale de Charleroi, les Brigittines, Centre Wallonie-Bruxelles (Paris), Le Gymnase (Roubaix), Julidans (Amsterdam), ...)

In 2016, Monkey Mind with three dancers with down syndrome for Platform K, was significant for her later choreographic work as the dance material offered by the dancers with disabilities reinforced her artistic direction, the principle of the ‘Monkey Mind’ referring to “the endless chatter in your head as you jump from one thought to another, like a monkey jumping from tree to tree”. The method uses the change of thoughts and its translation into movements and words. For the research into her ‘Monkey Mind’ method, Lisi is granted a scholarship by the Flemish Government. This research concentrates on the themes of kinesthetics, empathy and the mirror neurons. It is related to Art (dance) Brut and will be further explored and developed in the projects to come.

In 2018, she starts an artistic collaboration with Serge Aime Coulibaly, Sara Vanderieck and Mirko Banovic on the project When I See a Strawberry, I Think of a Tongue (Kaap. Grote Post, Oostende and Theater des Doms, Avignon). The artistic trajectory of this project continues in 2019 and 2020, with residencies in Le Centquatre Paris, WP Zimmer Antwerp, Le Bamp Brussels and Le Gymnase Roubaix.

Also in 2018, she premiered two major productions, Hillbrowfication (Johannesburg), a collaboration with (non-)professional youngsters of Hillbrow and choreographer Constanza Macras/Dorky Park, Gorky Theater and Goethe Institute and Sapiens for the Ballet Contemporaneo Teatro San Martin (Buenos Aires, Argentina).

For the Day of the dance 2018, she co-creates with Alain Platel and Quan Bui Gnoc, Le Sacre du Printemps which brought more than 200 people dancing in the streets of Ghent. Teatro Calderòn of Valladolid (E) invited Lisi to do a remake in their city in 2019.

Early 2019, Lisi creates The Jewish Connection Project in collaboration with Ido Batash, a piece for five dancers and a soprano (première 14 & 15 February, Campo Ghent).

For the Day of the Dance 2019 in De Grote Post Oostende, she creates with Darryl E. Woods Ze zullen ons niet temmen, a short collective choreography that delivers a new interpretation of the Belgian national anthem by singer-songwriter Wannes Cappelle. For the dance ensem Salzburg Experimental Academy of Dance dance ensemble, she creates No Human No Cry.The same season she premieres Vernaculos for the Compania Nacional de Danza Contemporanea, Buenos Aires.

Her creation in collaboration with Ido Batash and the Brussels based tango music ensemble with the same name - is called SONICO – The Heart Is the Muscle We Like to Work Out. It premières in March 2020, but was put on hold straight after because of the COVID-19 crisis.

In October 2020, Bibliomaniacs premières. A dance piece Lisi made with 6 female dancers of the Itinerant Dance Ensemble, in a production of Dorky Park and Constanza Macras, Kindl (Berlin).

In 2021 and 2022, she is guest choreographer, amongst others at  Mercat de les Flors (Barcelona), B12 (Berlin) and the Flemish Opera (Ghent), for A Bigger Thing in September 2022.

On the occasion of her 50th birthday, Lisi creates  #THISISBEAUTY. This solo has its avant-première during the festival Bits of Dance on February 26th, 2022 (KAAP, Brugge).

Also in 2021-2022 Lisi is doing a research project at the AP Hogeschool in Antwerp, devoted to Art Brut, dance and disabilities.