Begin ⁄ The Mirror

Bryana Fritz ^{(United States)}, Stefa Govaart ^(Belgium) & Chloe Chignell ^(Australia)

Minimum age 16+

90 minutes

Thu 28.11.24 Espace Pasolini Valenciennes

Fri 29.11.24 Espace Pasolini Valenciennes

More info

Radical feminism echoes back into the Middle Ages with the Beguines, a group of lay religious women who were living together, collectivizing, and practicing spirituality outside the jurisdiction of the church. Together, Bryana Fritz, Chloe Chignell, and Stefa Govaart exhume this history with a dance performance that moves from radical love to self-annihilation.

In 1310, Marguerite Porete, a Beguine from Valenciennes, was burnt at the stake for writing a book called Le Miroir des âmes simple. In it, she describes the seven stages of radical love that a soul must pass through in order to achieve total annihilation and complete union with God. Seven centuries later, BEGIN/The Mirror aims to unfold these seven stages within the history of womxn’s experimental expression from the Medieval to the present day. Through poetry, crochet, dance and song the performers attempt the mystical dissolution of the body and dance toward its resurrection.

Performance Bryana Fritz, Stefa Govaart ,Chloe Chignell - Création lumière Alice Panziera - Coproduction et partenaires Espace Pier Paolo Pasolini (Valenciennes) ; Kunstencentrum BUDA (Kortrijk) ; NEXT FESTIVAL ; Pavillon ADC (Geneva) ; La Briqueterie CDCN (Val-de-Marne) ; Viernulvier (Gent) ; Klosterruine (Berlin) ; Mondes Nouveaux-Ministère de la Culture - Coproduction Fonds Transfabrik - fonds franco-allemand pour le spectacle vivant - Avec le soutien de VIVANTO