A choreographic lecture-performance about gender systems and the processes involved in constructing individual identity.
In this choreographic lecture-performance, Niko (-, he/him, they/them, she/her) puts memories, experiences, desires and needs into dialogue with the conceptual, cultural and performative possibilities for (re)presenting and experiencing identity offered by contemporary Western society.
What bodily sensations compose the image I have of my body? What lived identity do these sensations produce? What echoes does this lived identity find in the cultural archetypal images of my social context? What words, nouns and pronouns are assigned to these images? How can I live in a context of constantly repeated social injunctions about what one should do, think, experience and affirm about oneself?
Through these reflections and their confrontation with personal and bodily experience as a trans person, Niko asks each of us how we perceive and construct our individual identity. The piece is at once narrative, performative and interactive. It unfolds through a dialogue between language and movement, while inviting spectators to observe their sensual and imaginary relationship to their individual identity and to gender clichés.
Press:
“Anyone entering the Schauspiel-Residenz for Rewor(l)ding Genders is surprised […] as if the theatrical arrangement that usually takes hold here should take a back seat to authentic statements. […] An ambivalence that is successfully reflected in Jacobi’s dance. At some point […] videos add a second level of meaning to the autobiographical narrative. Can […] an identity beyond gender attributions be spelled out? Stereotypes collide illustratively in order to pulverise them. […] The intimate form [invites] a change of perspective in order to break down thought patterns.”
Dimo Rieß – Leipziger Volkszeitung, 2023
Concept: Charlie Fouchier
Creation: Charlie Fouchier & Niko Jacobi
Performance: Niko Jacobi
Lighting and set design: Charlie Fouchier
Videos:
“Les expériences de Nymphx et Faunx” – Mono Welk, Niko Jacobi, Jul Zureck, ART3M1S – 2023
“I love you but I need another year” – Niko Jacobi – Seneca Intensiv Berlin – 2019
Text (extracts):
“Transidentity and Psychonanalysis: Laying new bases” – Hervé Hubert, 2020
Premiere:
07 & 08 July 2023, Schauspiel Leipzig RESIDENZ as part of the KATAPULT – Performance Plattform Leipzig.
Guest performances:
25, 26 & 27 January 2024, DOCK Art, Berlin*
November 14 & 15, 2025, guest performance series “LOOK for Dance Art and Diversity,” ehrenfeldstudios, Cologne.
A production by Charlie Fouchier in co-production with KATAPULT – Performance Plattform Leipzig, a project of Residenz Schauspiel Leipzig, Schaubühne Lindenfels and LOFFT – DAS THEATER. In cooperation with 4fT-Tanzplattform Leipzig e.V.. Funded by the Cultural Foundation of the Free State of Saxony. This measure is co-financed by tax funds on the basis of the budget approved by the members of the Saxon State Parliament.
Charlie Fouchier 