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  • Dance
  • SPRING coproduction
  • World premiere

(DON’T) LOOK ME IN THE EYES

Date
Fri 31 May 2024 21:30
Sat 1 June 2024 17:00
Location
Theater Kikker Grote Zaal
Duration
60 min
Language
English & Spanish
Country
Spain/Netherlands
Price
€18,- / €15,-
Themes
Performing speculations, Non-western, Who owns the story, New technologies
Edition
SPRING 2024
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This performance features stroboscopic lighting or other flashing lights, smoke effects, and intense bass via a subwoofer.

A creation conceived as the second chapter of a trilogy, initiated with the graduation production of the artist at DAS Theatre in 2022. The mythological figure of Medusa, an important figure in the iconography of Western culture is filtered and examined through critical thinking, pop culture, and sci-fi aesthetics, in search of its resonance in today’s world.

Video

Drink my blood in the stream of digital

I dare you

to take me in

under the font of the ree(a)l.

 

Wet your engine in my wicked veins

I want you

to take me inside

to take me there

I will give you my eye, without putting the brake.

 

Meet me there, in the code of barks

that make our face viral

that make our face spiral

but only under the dark hack.

 

Cause the world is leaking, for sure is leaking

is stoned, nonstop beeping.

Cause the world is leaking, I bet is leaking

is stoned, nonstop chirping.

 

(DON’T) LOOK ME IN THE EYES is a dance performance inspired by the story of the Greek myth of Medusa and the Gorgon sisters. It is a piece for three human performers, two robots, and an avatar that tackles the notion of the monstrous and the relationships between bodies and technology. Its aim is to reflect on the representations of women and queer characters in the foundational narratives of Western culture. (DON’T) LOOK ME IN THE EYES attempts to turn the problems that the myth triggers into a sci-fi futuristic dream, tracing a line between past and future to understand and confront some of the problems from the present we inhabit.

https://ainhoahernandez.com

Awards

  • Erik Impuls 2023
  • YAA Prize 2023, category: dance
  • 3 Package Deal 2022-2023, category: dance, from Amsterdams Fonds voor de Kunst

Interview

VandenEnde foundation interviewed artist Ainhoa Hernández Escudero about this performance. Read the Dutch interview here.

“It is precisely in theater that it is possible to experience other perspectives on the world. There is a lot of symbolism and references in the performance. Hopefully everyone will leave the theater with a different feeling and their own interpretation of the play.”

Review

Marjan Terpstra wrote on Theaterkrant about (DON’T) LOOK ME IN THE EYES: “This is life as many women live it, even today. In fear, confined, while deep inside burns the desire to become that other version of themselves. Ainhoa Hernández Escudero, with her intense and repetitive choreography, makes us feel how many women never reach the next level. Bold, a bit weird, but ultimately very powerful.” Read the full review here.

Reading group

Feel free to join Ainhoa Hernández Escudero’s Reading Group on May 25th from 19:30 to 22:00 in Savannah Bay.

 

This performance is made possible by:

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Artist

Ainhoa Hernández Escudero

Credits

CONCEPT AND DIRECTION – Ainhoa Hernández Escudero

PERFORMERS – Neda Ruzheva, Nina Pushkareva and Ainhoa Hernandez Escudero

CHOREOGRAPHY – Ainhoa Hernandez Escudero with Laura Ramirez Ashbaugh, Neda Ruzheva, and Nina Pushkareva

DRAMATURGY– Marta Keil

TEXT with Ira Brand

SOUND DESIGN– Fernanda Libman

VISUALS – Urticae

COSTUME – Lucian Squid

ROBOT PROGRAMMING – Echo Wang and Hisham Bendriss

LIGHT DESIGN – Irene Cantero

PRODUCTION MANAGEMENT– Astrid Klein Haneveld

ACCOMPANIEMENT – Carolina Bianchi

COPRODUCED WITH SPRING Festival, ICK, and Antic Teatre

CO-PRODUCTION IN RESIDENCY – O Espaço do Tempo

SUPPORTED BY AFK, NORMA, Stimulerings Fonds Digital Culture, the YAA prize, Erik Impuls, New Adventures Residency, Vande Ende Foundation, ID Lab.

SPECIAL THANKS – Isabel Escudero, Isabel Hernández, Suzy Blok, Gina Broeders, Isadora Tomasi, Ummi Renteria Wouters, Fleur De Schepper, Come Together #8, ID Lab, Veronica Visocka, Irene Brok, Lisa Reinheimer, Soyun Jang, House of Løstbois.

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