Rebecca Lenaerts

Birdwoman

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 the audience to imagine their own story and to travel in a world that reminds us that the human body, nature, and the dream world are inseparable.

In 2015 Rebecca Lenaerts began to collect bird feathers found on the ground, walking around the streets of Berlin. Collecting feathers turned into a ritual: first the washing, then drying and treating with cedar, then the storage. In 2018, with painstaking dedication, she starts sewing them one by one on a blanket, creating a feather cloak. After nine months Birdwoman was born. In mythology she is the guardian between the human and the animal world. 

Over time, the long-lasting “doing” of collecting and sewing feathers evolved into an inner search for gentleness and humility. The feather cloak becomes a tool for interdisciplinary collaborations and various artistic output; like the video Birththat will be shown for the first time on this festival. Also for the first time, Rebecca Lenaerts will present a long-durational version of her performance, exploring the tension between the wild in the urban environment, between appearing and disappearing, between perceptive and imaginative realm.

Rebecca Lenaerts (BE) is a performance artist, working and living in Brussels. Since her graduation at RITCS Brussels, hybridity and transdisciplinary practices are a constant in her artistic journey. Her work consists of storytelling projects, interventions, installations, performances and the intersection between those genres, often outside the confines of the performing arts. Inspired by the practice and philosophy of Japanese Butoh Dance, she now creates work in which she explores her physical presence and vulnerability in a performative space. Touched by the lost connection between the body and nature, she moves on the fine line between ceremony and performance.

Credits

Concept and performance: Rebecca Lenaerts.
Creation feather cloak with assistance of Sonia Anicéto.
Movement and choreographic support: Tijen Lawton.
Co-Production: HETLAB Hasselt.
Photography: Yozyphotography, Shana Boogers
With the support of Flanders State of the Art, Sabam for Culture, CC Strombeek, GC De Kriekelaar and PUSH+ (Creative Europe).

Website