Image by SHOTLUCID

Be Vardų, Be Kojų, meaning “Without Names, Without Legs” is an ongoing, iterative exploration in queering Lithuanian folk dance. 

Using live-motion-capture, the solo performer interacts with eight aliens, made from glitched scans of specific male and female folk dance steps. These new, queer/alien bodies in digital space act as generative errors, creating new knowledge as they twist reality, delving into speculative fiction. The soloist, presenting as a pagan Lithuanian ‘woman’, is transported after performing a ritual with these aliens, causing a realization within themselves that they are not, in fact, a woman but a non-binary, agender person.

This transition into queerness is witnessed not only emotionally, but physically as elements of the queer street dance, Punking/Whacking/Waacking, continue to shift gestures connoting ‘maleness’ or ‘femaleness’ within folk dance to something more queer – a demonstration of coming into one’s own. 

Company: Chimerik 似不像
Design/Creative Costume Design: Brigita Gedgaudas
Lithuanian Cultural Advisor: Tadas Varaneckas
Dramaturg/Producer: Caroline MacCaull
Movement Mentor: Ashley ‘Colours’ Perez
New Media Mentor: Immony Mèn
Composer: Sergei Kofman
Technical Costume Designer: Charlotte Carbone
New Media Operator/Project Assistant: Eilish Shin-Culhane
Outside Eye: Jasmine Liaw
Technical Support: Sammy Chien