o-

Solo performance, new creation 2024

O. is a return to the ORIGIN.

Who am I? Who are we?

With simple, spontaneous gestures, I create a raw, intimate and personal dance.

I accompany the flow of breath, which becomes sound, voice, song.

Body segments become supports that reveal spaces of human and non-human memories.

Archaic and surreal landscapes take shape in a TRANS-IDENTITY journey where the individual becomes multiple, where the personal meets the universal.

O. is a choreographic creation centred on the body, starting from the pelvis, in an attempt to evoke an urgent need to return to the very essence of the human being, to that dimension of consciousness that is beyond verbal language and unites us with all the living beings that inhabit the Earth. Affirming and exposing her body in her sensitive and vulnerable nature, performer Francesca Saraullo reveals her fragility and her strength, her gentleness and her sensuality, her inner animal and her femininity.

O. claims to be a yonologue in which the « m » of mono - one, masculine - is replaced by the « y » of yoni - a sacred Sanskrit term meaning « origin » and referring to the female genitals. Reversing the ‘mind-body’, ‘spirit-matter’, ‘rational-instinctive’ dualism, the piece portrays the evolution of a performative gesture that gives voice and expression to the pelvic region, in all its intimacy and authenticity. It is an act of empowerment: of reappropriation from below of one's own personal power, identity and imagination, beyond any definition of gender.

O. is not only a yonologue, but also a ritual of reconnection with the deepest and most sacred part of the body, an invitation to rediscover the inseparable thread that unites us with all of Life.

On stage, a creature, a body, a woman who lets her yoni speak, act and exist, giving life to organic movements and archaic sounds, like a palpable sign of our animal and ultra-human nature. The raw, hypnotic choreography is accompanied by textual fragments projected onto the background, gathering traces of somatic practices around the pelvis. Alongside the evocative and poetic nature of the text, the layering of textual and corporeal landscapes emphasises the aesthetic and conceptual contrast between verbal and non-verbal experience. In addition to the projected text, the video image enriches the choreography with poetic evocation of the individual and collective imagination around the pelvis (between anatomy, biology, nature, mythology and ordinary life).

This swinging dialogue between the danced gesture and the visual landscape gives the audience access to a non-linear, non-rational, intangible and sometimes uncomfortable preverbal experience, rooted in the very essence of the feminine: a new language is proposed, embracing vitality, creativity and multiple identities.

NOTES

This creation is the fruit of a long process of physical and theory-based research named CORPO PELVICO, supported over the years by various Belgian and foreign partners.

By sharing among a diverse public (such as illiterate women, seniors, children, professionals and amateur adults in the field of performing arts) I could realize how crucial it is to work specifically on the pelvis, and how urgent it has become to give a voice to such an intimate place.

From these encounters came a desire to gather, abstract, and transform the materials and experiences I’ve collected since the dawn of this work to mold it into a poetic stage shape: O. .

Concept, choreography & performance Francesca Saraullo

Dramaturgy & text Alice Van der Wielen-Honinckx

Light design & Stage management Eleanor Bryce / Joseph Iavicoli

Sound Clelia Patrono

Video Francesca Saraullo

Costume Berenike Corcuera

Set & costume research Francesca Saraullo in collaboration with Le Vaisseau Tournai

Artistic accompanying Ilaria Orlandini, Hélène Gautier

Choreographic advice Stéphanie Auberville, Silvia Pezzarossi

Time 40'

PARTNERS

Co-production Gruppo E-Motion

Creation residency Campo; Danspunt ; Arts Centre VIERNULVIER ; Escale du Nord – CC d'Anderlecht ; GC De Rinck; Summer PARTS; Le Vaisseau - Tournai ; Florian Metateatro ; SpazioMatta. With the support of COGEMA, LUX, Dealer Informatica.

Research residency (2023-2020) : Kunstenwerkplaats ; LeBamp ; Teatre de sa Teulera Andratx ; Spazio Matta ; Zfinmalta dance national academy («AiR 2022»); Marosi Stromboli Festival («around a process of making 2022») ; Maison de la Création ; CC Garçia Lorca ; Garage29 (GINcubator21) ; Charleroi danse ; Théâtre Marni ; De Kriekelaar GC ; Workspace Ricerca X, Lavanderia a Vapore ; ATLAS, ImPulsTanz.

With the support of Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles (grant) ; Charleroi danse (grant) ; WBI ; LeBamp ; ILES Artist Project ; Institut culturel italien à Malte ; Zfinmalta dance national academy ; Workspace Ricerca X.

teaser, O. premiere belgium, October 2024

TROGLODYTE - Atelier210, Brussels, Belgium

yonologue

Template of the written yonologue projected in live

O., extract of the visual part of the piece

“Let us listen to the language of the body, its fragility and imperfections, in order to find, beyond its periphery, that magical continuity with the other living organisms that populate the Earth.”

Silvia Federici, PAR-DELÀ LES FRONTIÈRES DU CORPS