Bed-Based Burlesque (2022)

Bed-Based Burlesque (2022)

Two years into being housebound I applied for the hybrid performance festival DisabiliTease to make burlesque performance from my bed.

This performance was me trying to reclaim my body and my bed as spaces where sensuality, sickness, rest and biological functions can all co-exist. To take it back from the medical gaze, ableism and despair I so often experience. Burlesque with it's history of parody and caricature, sensuality, extravaganza and nudity and of course a nice backing soundtrack seemed perfect for this.

I wanted to represent the fullness, complexity and hardships of having been bed-based and sick for the last couple of years. It is also about my deep longing for freedom, finding liberation through the imagination and not abandoning your desires: even from a bed burlesque can be made.

It took me several months to prepare this performance. I made several of the props for it. Because of my energy limitations I could only practice for a maximum of half an hour a day and then I would have to rest again. I would record myself and then watch it back and kept making changes in the choreography and timing untill I felt happy.

I reached out to my favorite filmmaker, who shares my illness, Gemma Barendse. Together with our filmmaker friend Joel van Dooren we finally found a day that the both of us happened to be 'healthy' enough to shoot. We could only do 3 takes. This was our favorite one.

Song: My Body Is A Cage - Arcade Fire

Bed-Based Burlesque (2022)