Blog: Charlotte Alles, My Lindblad Szlavik and Yentl de Werdt

Photo

Lead Artist - Yentl de Werdt (Belgium, Gender Lab)
Lead Artist - Charlotte Alles (Belgium, (over)protection Lab)
Lead Artist - My Lindblad Szlavik (Denmark, (over)protection Lab)

This project is an example of what can happen when artists get to play with ideas in a Lab setting and meet new collaborators. In this case, the three artists participated in two different Labs so didn't meet each other until they were in Denmark when their two areas of research (Identity and (over)protection) were selected for further residency support from Aaben Dans, PUSH partners based in Roskilde, Denmark.

In February 2017, Yentl took part in the first PUSH Lab with the main topic ”Gender & Sexual Identity”. After the lab Yentl continued her research but more on the broader topic of 'Identity' - Who Am I? What do I want to share with an audience through movement and dance?

In September 2017, Charlotte and My took part in the second PUSH Lab with the main topic of (over)protection. Here they met for the first time and towards the end of the Lab they developed the site-specific project ”Kidnapped with permission” that was tried out in the streets of Hasselt, Belgium as part of the SPOTS festival.

During the fall Charlotte and My kept in contact and together they applied for a residency at Åben Dans in Roskilde, Denmark that December.

"In December 2017, all three of us met for the first time and a wish to merge our two different projects and researches arose.  During the residency at Aaben Dans and at Teater Nordkraft we found a common path and created tools in how to approach the two topics together: (Over)protection and Identity. We started to work on location and developed ideas together which resulted into a Performance Walk at Teater Nordkraft. This 'performance walk' is the result of our first research period together and a step towards creating a full length performance for, and with, children in the near future. We asked Gerhard Verfaillie from Cultuurcentrum Hasselt (CCHA) to be the dramaturg of our project and together with him we are applying for a residency in Belgium later this year.  Our aim is to find support (either from a PUSH partner or beyond) to create and present our future performance 'Who do you wanna play?' as full production.

All the three of us are very exited about our new collaboration and we are very thankful for the opportunities we all got through the PUSH Project. It´s been a great platform for us as artists to get to know eachother, exchange ideas and experiences and have the chance to work together."

You can watch a trailer of a work in progress of Who do you wanna play? here.

Who do you wanna play? 

An interactive performance play around the topics of identity and protection.

By combining the art of puppeteering with dance and theater we invite the audience to come on a journey where you get to question the roles you play in your own life.

Be aware - Big Brother is watching you!

Artistic concept & performers: Charlotte Alles, My Lindblad Szlavik, Yentl de Werdt, with the guest appearance of Geertrui

Dramaturg: Gerhard Verfaillie

Age group: 10–18 years old