© Fran Hayes

of all your words and soft strange ways

Ika Schwander / Frascati Producties
Tue 5 Mar ’24 - Sat 16 Mar ’24
How does the (sick) body relate to a world in decline?
Tue 5 Mar ’24
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Sat 16 Mar ’24

Some say an army on horseback,

some say on foot, and some say ships

are the most beautiful things on this black earth,

but I say it is whatever you love.

of all your words and soft strange ways is a liminal space where two bodies meet. A duet between generations. They meet in silence, in pain, in a zone of not wanting to be. In a world between two lives. 

For this performance, Ika is collaborating with Brazilian choreographer and performer Marcelo Evelin. They investigate how the (sick) body relates to a world in devastation. The body mourns, the sickness of the world seeps through your skin and infects your thoughts, until you no longer know what or who you are in this irreversible process of decay.

What can we learn from people who no longer wish to, or can be, here in human form?

of all your words and soft strange ways is an in-depth investigation by Ika Schwander into transformation, stasis, pain and sickness. Ika was inspired by the American Julia Butterfly Hill, who at a young age had to recover from an almost fatal car accident. Later, Hill became known mainly as a climate activist who spent 738 days living in an ancient sequoia tree, as a protest against deforestation. 

  • Premiere: wed 6th of March 20:00
  • Duration: 60 min
  • Spoken language: English, French, Portugese. With English surtitles.

Credits

 concept & directing Ika Schwander performance Ika Schwander, Marcelo Evelin dramaturgy Carolina Mendonça thanks to Julia Butterfly Hill video in collaboration with Fran Hayes in coproduction with CAMPO Arte Contemporânea 

       

About the makers

French-Dutch Ika Schwander (1999) is a performer and director who prefers to work at the intersection of different disciplines. She makes visual productions, films and performative installations on delicate subjects such as trauma, chronic pain, feminicide, sexual abuse and loss. In her creative processes, Ika keeps up a constant dialogue with the world around her. 

Ika studied Fine Art at Central Saint Martins in London and in 2023 completed the performance programme at Toneelacademie Maastricht institute of performative arts with the graduation production é vero, é vero, é vero. of all your words and soft strange ways is her first production with Frascati Producties. 

Marcelo Evelin (BR) is a choreographer, researcher and performer who lives and works in both Amsterdam and Teresina (Brazil). He is affiliated as an independent maker to his company Demolition Incorporada in Brazil and teaches at the Amsterdam Mime School. He also leads workshops and collaborative projects throughout Europe, the US, Africa, Japan, South America and Brazil, and in 2016 was a co-founder of CAMPO Arte Contemporânea. His productions Matadouro (2010) and Suddenly Everything is Black with People (2012) were presented in more than 18 countries and are still touring. In 2023, he was at Frascati with the production A Invenção da Maldade (The Invention of Evilness, 2019).