#THISISBEAUTY

“If you really want to be understood, look for a good translator”

Marlene Dumas

#THISISBEAUTY is the new performance by choreographer/dancer Lisi Estaras who celebrates her 50th birthday with a solo. A solo as a 50-year-old dancer. A solo of 50 minutes. A work consisting of 50 thoughts.

What does the performer think while executing movements? Saying what we say is not always the same as showing what we say. In this creation the fascination for the place of words and language in dance becomes the core of the piece together with the encounter with philosopher Carla Carmona from The University of Sevilla.

Inspired by the work of Ludwig Wittgenstein and other 50-year-old women, Lisi creates an autobiographical physical and verbal fiction that questions the absurd boundaries of communication.

After La Esclava (2015), Lisi creates another dance solo. Whereas La Esclava  focused on the memory of the (dancing) body as an engine for the narration of her own history, Lisi now focuses on the development of a personal linguistic writing. After The Jewish Connection Project (2019) and SONICO, the heart is the muscle we like to work out  (2020), #THISISBEAUTY is Lisi Estaras’ 3rd creation under the wings of her own MonkeyMind Company.

(c) Jan Bosteels

Concept, choreography and dance​ Lisi Estaras Dramaturgy Sara Vanderieck Soundscape Tom Daniels Light design Helmut Van den Meersschaut Costume design Marie Szersnovicz Costume atelier Odile Dubucq Philosophical advice Carla Carmona Artistic advice Kristien De Proost Production management & communication Hilde Debuck MonkeyMind Company Management Nicole Petit Production MonkeyMind Company Coproduction Festival Bits of Dance Brugge (B), MA Scène Nationale Pays de Montbéliard (F) Residencies  KAAP Brugge, MA Scène Nationale Pays de Montbéliard, Tanzhaus Zürich, BAMP Bruxelles With the support of CAMPO, les ballets C de la B and KC nona (studio) Thanks to Rose, Liora, Mirko and Ludwig

This project is created with a project grant from the Flemish Government – Culture 

 

 

In the press            

“Half entertainer, half character, moving between autobiography and fiction, Lisi Estaras finally describes wild love-making from a man’s perspective. This reversal in #THISISBEAUTY has a huge effect. The performance becomes pornographic in a gentle way, something that you rarely experience. … It is disarming and moving, as Estaras gives sexual experiences a place in the middle of the stage.”

Fransien van der Putt in Theaterkrant, August 6th, 2022
“#THISISBEAUTY is a lot of things at once: A philosophical experiment, a dance training, a parody of the dance world and a vulnerable self-portrait. But fierce and untamable, like Estaras herself.”  ****

Evelyne Coussens in De Morgen, August 1st, 2022
“A burning, up-to-date picture in times of social uncertainty.” 
Karlijn Clocheret in Pfazz, August 1st, 2022