Cie Desiré Davids
WHO IS THIS ?
Beneath My Skin...
35min
Choreography & interpretation
Desiré Davids
You look at me and you define me.
Without question you put me in a box
Do you see me? REALLY see me?
“ I AM OF MIXED RACE. Black and White. I do not know how much of each, if that is what you want to know. All I know is that I am me and that is what I would like you to see. Not your version of what you think I should be or an image of me that is comfortable for you to accept”. Desiré Davids
In collaboration with French photographer, Pascale Beroujon, Desiré Davids created “WHO IS THIS? Beneath My Skin...”. Through this performance of mixed media... photo images, live and fixed video projection, the artist as much as the spectator are confronted with and interrogated about the different “layers” of which we are constructed.
THE WORK is done predominantly as a solo with extended video work including the videographer on stage.
It is an investigation into my heritage and to what degree it has defined and influenced me as a person.
Where do I find myself as a «coloured» woman in South Africa today?
JMD - Danse a Montpellier 27 June 2011
http//danseamontp.wordpress.com/2011/06/27
“...In brief, a lot of thought and work has been done to achieve the multiplicity of views beautifully accomplished.
However the mastery of the lighting and space has to bow to the power and rhythm of the dance....All to say, we are here in the presence of a real dancer.”
September 7, 2010
BUSSINESS DAY - South Africa: On the stage Mary Jordan
"Who is this beneath my skin?" is a search for self; a call to break away from stereotypes and seek to be unique in a world that sells us the line that "One size fits all" much too often.
She undertakes a striptease that literally and metaphorically bares her soul and body in a brave and fiercely independent work.
She collaborates with French photographer and videographer Pascale Beroujon, whose sublime images are an integral part of the work.