BEHIND THE SHELL
PULSATES THE DARK
(2025)
Work-in-Progress Movement Research
ArtEZ University of Arts
Bikewars Performance Bar
Work-in-Progress Movement Research
ArtEZ University of Arts
Bikewars Performance Bar
The performance Behind the Shell Pulsates the Dark is a work-in-progress dance performance on roller skates that explores hidden layers of skating as a practice. Instead of embodying the elegance traditionally associated with figure skating, the dancer seeks its dark and strange sides, moving beyond the polished and beautiful shell. By letting her head, arms, and hands embark the impulses, dynamics and patterns, she
deconstructs her learned movement vocabulary and challenges the standards and norms embedded in her body.
She moves away from the expected lightness of gliding bodies and asks herself: what does skating look like when it becomes rough, unstable and uncomfortable? Which conditions are necessary to reach that edge?
The piece explores the tension between control and being controlled, trapped in remaining traditions, fleeing from the constantly repeating lightness toward a void of vague unrest.
She moves away from the expected lightness of gliding bodies and asks herself: what does skating look like when it becomes rough, unstable and uncomfortable? Which conditions are necessary to reach that edge?
The piece explores the tension between control and being controlled, trapped in remaining traditions, fleeing from the constantly repeating lightness toward a void of vague unrest.