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.

This performance was made during a residency in BUDA after which it premiered during the NEXT festival 2024 at Espace Pasolini in Valenciennes. As part of a symposium on beguines, we are now happy to bring the performance back to Kortrijk.