Jija Sohn, Aleksandra Lemm, Julia Reist

Landing on Feathers

1h30
Performance
English spoken, no subtitles | 10+ | a lot of text | accessible for visually impaired people
Belgian premiere
Relaxed performance
Budatoren
Pay what you can (€0/€5/€10/€15/€20/€25)
It’s up to you to decide whether the suggested price (€15) fits within your current financial situation… or rather not. Can you afford a higher ticket price? Then you make it possible for others to pay less.

buy tickets →

Empathic artwork about a care relationship

In 2021, choreographers Jija Sohn and Aleksandra Lemm, dramaturg Julia Reist and artistic collaborator Nica Roses embarked on a creative journey, together with visual artist Elmer Kouwenberg, who became paralysed after a car accident some 30 years ago. The foursome previously made a short documentary about their role as Kouwenberg’s carers, with whom they practise various physical exercises. With this performance, they continue their research into inclusivity.

With Landing on Feathers, a special ‘safe space‘ emerges. With humour and empathy, a conversation about the dancers’ care practices unfolds with Kouwenberg, who continues working on art during the performance. What does it mean to become the extension of somebody else’s body? How do we achieve tender interaction with ourselves and with each other in a society defined by individuality and competition? Together with the performers, the audience reflects about the opposition between being abled and being disabled, about the roles of the carer and the one being cared for. Landing on Feathers is an intelligent project about radical relationality.

In the frame of Caring is Sharing, in collaboration with Schouwburg Kortrijk.
With the support of the ‘Ambassade van het Koninkrijk der Nederlanden’ in Brussels

Jija Sohn (https://www.jijasohn.com) is a Japanese- Korean artist based in Amsterdam. She has dedicated her work and practice to exploring human connections and relations which recently resulted in three community-based projects – Lands of Concert 2019-21 in collaboration with Julia Reist, ARP-Art Research Production in Brussels, Phantom Travels, 2021 and Landing on Feathers in collaboration with Julia Reist and Aleksandra Lemm, Amsterdam based artist and therapist, 2020-23. Also she currently works at the community building EU project, Performing Gender – Dancing In Your Shoes with Theaterfestival Boulevard. These projects have become her way to look inside into our human nature, recognizing and embracing all our flaws and strengths, making them into an intimate portrait of how we are as people alone and together.

Aleksandra Lemm is an Amsterdam-based performance artist and therapist. Her work focuses on deepening trusting relationships between people, intimacy and individual and collective healing. She approaches these themes using a variety of therapeutic tools supported by embodiment practices.

Julia Reist (BE) holds a master in Artistic Research and has worked on projects bridging the visual arts to dance and performance. Since 2011, she has been working as a freelance researcher and art producer on a large range of (inter)national projects.
In close dialogue with artists, bringing in her specific analytic skills, Julia is able to locate and structure the often still ungraspable elements in early stages of a work or project, to then develop and produce this.

Play dates

Sat 01/07
1. 18:15
Sun 02/07
1. 17:30

Concept: Jija Sohn, Aleksandra Lemm and Julia Reist
Performance: Jija Sohn, Aleksandra Lemm and Nica Roses
Direction: Jija Sohn
Researched with: Julia Reist, Aleksandra Lemm, Nica Roses and Elmer Kouwenberg Dramaturgy: Julia Reist
Music: Abel Kroon
Scenography & Physical adviser: Sebastian Belmar
Voice adviser: Alessio Castellacci
Co-production: DansBrabant, SPRING Performing Arts Festival, Kaaitheater, VIERNULVIER arts center vzw, Be My Guest, De Brakke Grond, Theaterfestival Boulevard, WPZimmer, ICK Dans Amsterdam/Space for Dance Art, Dansateliers, Festival Cement Residency: De Brakke Grond, Kunstencentrum BUDA, WPZimmer, ICK Dans Amsterdam/ Space for Dance Art