“An initial research for our new show Blueberries leave bruises on the skin, a trilingual (Dutch, English, French) theatrical performance with a physical twist, in which we ask the question: in what ways can we immortalise ourselves? And whence comes this urge to catapult ourselves into eternity?”

Mona Thijs (BE) & Astrid De Haes (BE)

Astrid De Haes (born 1996) started dancing when she was six and has had a keen interest in movement and the body ever since. She studied Autonomous Design at the School of Arts in Ghent. As a master’s thesis, she conducted preliminary research for her performance Untitled 1. This creation with four dancers and five musicians, and music by Abel Ghekiere, was selected for edition 2021 of Antwerp’s new-makers festival Love at first Sight. Astrid also created the dance solo After All in 2021 together with and for Pierre Bastin, which was shown at mobile open-air theatre De Carrousel in Antwerp.

Mona Thijs (1999) graduated with a master’s degree in Word Art and an educational master’s degree in Drama from the Royal Conservatory of Antwerp. Her short stories have appeared in the literary magazine DW B and columns in De Standaard and Klasse. Under the wings of theatre workshop HETGEVOLG in Turnhout, she supervised a music-theatre project for foreign-language newcomers together with musician Elias Durnez. She also realised Playlist van de pluk, a multilingual radio series in which she worked with the music, stories and languages of seasonal workers in the Haspengouw fruit harvest. Mona is currently working on her debut novel.