Still a bird
performance by Rebecca Lenaerts and Saif Alqaissy
“Birdwoman is born, lives, plays and dances until she disappears again into another world. We are silent witnesses of an organism in constant transformation between object-animal-human. The performance invites to expand our vision and to travel in a world that reminds us that the human body, nature and dreams are inseparable.”
In 2015 Rebecca Lenaerts started collecting bird feathers on the streets of Berlin. Looking at the ground, walking took on a different dimension. It became a search and find. Collecting feathers grew into a ritual of washing, drying and preserving. In 2018 she sewed the feathers one-by-one on a blanket. A monk's work. During a creation process of nine months, Birdwoman was born. In ancient mythology, she is the gatekeeper between the human and animal world.
Still a bird is a wordless intimate performance, on the crossroads between theatre, dance and visual arts, exploring the tension between appearing and disappearing, between physical and imaginative realm. Lenaerts has been strongly inspired by Japanese Butoh, Dance of Darkness, which she encountered in 2016 in Berlin. She has trained with several Butoh masters in Europe, USA and Japan. For Still a bird she collaborates with dancer and choreographer Tijen Lawton and Daf player Saif Alqaissy.
CREDITS: Concept and performance: Rebecca Lenaerts. Creation feather cloak with assistance of Sonia Anicéto. Movement and choreographic support: Tijen Lawton. Co-Production: HETLAB Hasselt. Music: Saif Alqaissy. Photography: Yozyphotography. With the support of Flanders State of the Art, Sabam for Culture, CC Strombeek, GC De Kriekelaar and PUSH+ (Creative Europe).
