Litchi Ly Friedrich: Periphery
‘Aeroponic’ – root systems nourished by air – Acts is the name given to the nomadic Dutch Art Institute’s final & festive iteration of the two year long so-called Kitchen* trajectory. Aeroponic Acts are conversations-in-a-form. Each presenter addresses one question as a practice of engagement.
Here you will find the documentation of Litchi Ly Friedrich's presentation as filmed by Baha Görkem Yalım, followed by a written report, authored by Harun Morrison, which includes a summary of the spoken comments by esteemed guest respondents Barby Asante, Lisette Lagnado and Momtaza Mehri.
VIDEO COMING SOON
Periphery
Litchi's question: Do you listen?
Litchi's introduction: This work with Kameron Locke, Black Pearl De Almeida Lima is a conversation, a call and response between dance, movement, song and voice, as well as an act of friendship and kinship beyond what words can describe. It is an act of unapologetic solidarity, resistance and defense of our values. And as I have said already last time, "Our joys are not for your entertainment."
Performers: Litchi Friedrich, Kameran Locke (Video) Black Pearl De Almeida (Video and Live)
Harun's report: “Our joys are not for your entertainment,” is voiced in the opening video. It begins with a gently swing hook, an ensemble in a derelict house, sensually and riotously moving through different rooms, unified by colourful flowing fabric and uptempo music, including a rendition of Nina Simone's Plain Gold Ring by Kameron Locke. Three friends in defiant joy. The song recurs in a second live element, featuring Litchi and Black Pearl De Almeida. They enter opposite sides of the stage, they summon the liberatory erotics of dancefloor. A black out. A chair appears. They’re in 1980s Miami Vice style blazers and shades, and proceed with a combination of informal address to each other and the audience, interweaving theory referencing the ballroom community in Berlin and Latinx Black Trans culture. To quote Litchi, “There’s no point to theory if nothing moves.”
Barby Asante: I was arrested from the opening image of the pendulum, the way the bodies activated the house?. How do bodies embody theory? When Audre Lorde is speaking about anger or eroticism it comes out of a lived experience. I was led through many histories and many ways to think about these histories and the voice. How do you enter a space and not lose yourself within a space? You held the key to your transformation and healing.
Lisette Lagnado: Watching this piece affirmed that I want to return to Brazil. I’m thinking of Capoeira, this dance which is also fight. A form that emerges from those who are marginalized, like others who have faced genocide and pushed to its periphery by the Brazilian military and state. I welcomed the way you brough funk and other music via Rio de Janeiro; this is the Brazil I want. To quote the translated lyrics of Brazilian composer Caetano Veloso, “Each person knows the delight and the pain of being who they are”.
Momtaza Mehri: I was struck by the hook as a form of a pendulum, an incredible weaving of theory with the body. I loved the amalgamation of the textual and performance. The combative joy. The glam and then the threadbare derelict surroundings. . . And what this says of where certain culture emerges from is Gatrix communicated in a very arresting way; inseparable from how this is sold back to us.
Litchi Ly Friedrich's "Periphery" was presented before live audience at the Posttheater in Arnhem on August 26th.
Find the overview of all 24 AEROPONIC ACTS 2021 here: UNDERSTORY CHANT