“I am indeed human…”
Rebecca Kenny presents
Performance artist Rebecca Kenny debuts at the Colchester Fringe with her
new solo piece En Dewh*re – a riotous, ridiculous and surreal piece of dance
theatre about ballet, boobs and the vital power of being in our bodies!
A creature prowls the stage, a writhing mass of breasts covers its body, it is angry…
it is the En Dewh*re…
After a frustrating ballet class in which she tried and failed to pull off a single pirouette,
Kenny googled to see if having large breasts put you at a disadvantage. Unwittingly, she
stepped into a dark side of ballet. Young girls being sorrowful at “not being right”, seeking
advice on how to disfigure themselves – a culture toxic enough to stop them dancing
altogether. And this quote from a professional ballerina speaking to The Guardian:#
“Ballerinas are supposed to be beyond human…to have noticeable breasts and hips is to
interrupt this fantasy with! grotesque sexuality, to remind the audience that you are indeed human.” #
En Dewh*re aims to create a silliness around the idea of what a perfect dance body is,
exploring the stigmatisation around certain bodies in dance and providing commentary on
the over-sexualisation of the female form, and the pressure to conform to ideals, especially
in an industry where physical aesthetic is so important. This policing of bodies is a micro
version of what happens in the world at large, and En Dewh*re challenges those norms,
encouraging people to take up space, both on the dance floor and beyond.#
“As a big-breasted woman moving through the world. I can never just simply have a body –
it is always sexy, provocative, grotesque or rude.” says Kenny. “This idea of large breasts as
only sexual is dangerous, keeping people objectified, hunted, shamed and controlled”. In
her signature clown style, En Dewh*re is dance theatre with a playful choreographic twist,
incorporating burlesque, physical comedy and, of course, ballet. Above all it is a fierce cry
to come home to our bodies, for prioritising how things feel over how things look, and a
cheeky love letter to dance.#
From her home in Berlin, Rebecca Kenny makes multi-disciplinary performance, as well as
cabaret and burlesque as her alter-ego, Frieda Love. She has been creating theatre
internationally for nearly two decades but this is her first time presenting a new piece in the
UK since 2019, as well as her first time at the Colchester Fringe. Her work holds the
audience’s journey at its heart, using playful interaction to create magical, surreal and
immersive worlds with the sole intention of cultivating empathy and connection. Her radical
burlesque presents the female body in an unconventional way – silly, joyful and raw. She is
interested artistically in flesh, not necessarily nakedness, but the tangible, hairy, real aspect
of the body and how that can be incorporated into dance and into activism.#
REVIEWS
“En Dewh*re, offers a deeply unambiguous, yet comic, rebellion against the oppressions inherent to the form of ballet…” Tanzschreiber.
“Praise for previous work (Frieda Loves Ya!) the overall feeling is of delight and hope, exactly what we need in these difficult times…” LGBTQ Arts Review.
‘An hour of fun and genre altering, comedic burlesque with a heart as big as the fringe
itself.” Backstage on the Fringe.
Running Time: 45 minutes no interval | Suitable for ages 16+
Listing Information;
Venue:! Mercury Studio Theatre ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !!
Tickets: £9.50
Dates: 25th & 26th October ! ! ! ! ! ! !
Time: 20.30 (25th), 16.30 (26th)
Website: www.colchesterfringe.com