Touch(ed)

A solo performance using autobiographical events to confront gender bias and cultural ideals around intimacy—in life and in art-making itself. Touch(ed) satirizes “slut-shaming” and the perceived vulgarity of the single woman versus the ideal of the nuclear family, and asks how performance can be a vehicle for transgressive ideals which prove difficult to uphold in real life. Arriving at the artist’s own trajectory as a married woman and mother, the work proposes that the popular cultural mythology of monogamy and motherhood is an elusive ideal for the de-sexualized mother-artist, who finds herself struggling to thrive amidst her physical metamorphosis and the demands of care-taking.

Conceived by performer/director Kestrel Leah, the work collages movement and original libretto with personal anecdotes and social media posts, while drawing from iconic female performances and leveraging specific dance forms in an exploration of sacred vs. profane love as personified in art. Yiannis Christofides’ live score combines layered electroacoustic soundscapes and experimental vocal processes, with music inspired by the song Gravity by “Womb pop” musical artist They/Live. Elements of Leah’s past performance experience are echoed through visual artist Dasha Sur’s yarn sculptures, based on references to the nefarious female spirit in string games folklore.

Performances:

Rialto Theatre, Limassol, CY (2024)

Theatro Dentro, Nicosia, CY (2023)

Polychoros Synergeio, CY (2023)

Performed by Kestrel Farin Leah with live musical performance by Yiannis Christofides

Direction: Kestrel Farin Leah

Music: Yiannis Christofides

Scenic concept and video art: Dasha Sur

Lighting Design: Vasilis Petinaris

Costume Design: Stephanie Petagno

This project is supported, in part, by a Foundation for Contemporary Arts Emergency Grant. Work-in-progress presented in the frame work of the Residency Programme for Performing and Live Arts at Theatro Polis OPAP/ NiMAC