When the bleeding stops
Eliza Reid, author and first lady of Iceland until August 2024, described the performance as 'a feel-good celebration of the beauty and strength of middle age'. That's spot on: When the Bleeding Stops is an ode to the aging body that is as dazzling as it is taboo-breaking and is co-performed during Julidans by Amsterdam-local women who are in menopause.
Festival Julidans
Programme section Julidans On Stage
Dutch premiere
Location Frascati 1
Run time 50 minutes
Genre Dance
Language English
When the Bleeding Stops
At the age of forty, Icelandic dancer Lovísa Ósk Gunnarsdóttir was injured and at the same time ended op in menopause. This forced her to rethink her relationship with dance, her body artistic practice. During this process, and aware of her aging dancer body, she was confronted with the silence and taboos surrounding menopause in Western society.
Gunnarsdóttir posted an open invitation on the internet inviting menopausal women to join her research on menopause. This led to When the Bleeding Stops, a performance that highlights the deep-rooted knowledge, history and experiences inherent in the aging female body.
In When The Bleeding Stops, women invite their audience into their world of vulnerability, shame, empathy and humour. The performance offers a glimpse into their lives and explores the different aspects of their experiences, encouraging spectators to laugh, cry and celebrate life alongside the woman on stage.
On her European tour, Lovísa Ósk Gunnarsdóttir invites middle-aged local women to join her on stage. This creates a new. layered story about menopause, which is an worldwide, universal experience. The performance grows with it and forms an ever-growing, international community.
More about Lovísa Ósk Gunnarsdóttir
Lovísa Ósk Gunnarsdóttir is an Icelandic dancer and choreographer. After a 16-year career with the Iceland Dance Company, an injury led her to re-examine her relationship to the body and dance. Her research into aging and menopause—subjects rarely addressed in the arts—led to a master’s in Performance Practice and the creation of When the Bleeding Stops, a powerful stage piece on bodily knowledge, taboo and transformation.
Credits
choreographer Lovísa Ósk Gunnarsdóttir
performers Lovísa Ósk Gunnarsdóttir, Ólöf Ingólfsdóttir, Kristjana Stefánsdóttir
technician Brett Smith
design Brett Smith
bookings StepTurnMove