Graduation performance: The Mermaid Manifesto
A study on women & water

In The Mermaid Manifesto, the audience is invited into a watery world, where eight mermaids attempt to turn themselves in human women.
Through a series of embodied acts and transformation rituals – ranging from dance routines to bedtime stories to a medical surgery and childbirth – the performers and the audience explore what it means to be a young woman today.

The project was initiated by graduating directing student Kaya Korabiowska-Dean and developed together with a crew of all-women-identifying dancers, movers and theatre artists. The material is based around the makers’ personal experiences, as well as the classic fairytale The Little Mermaid, its Polish horror-film-adaptation The Lure, and the philosophical theory of hydrofeminism.
How can an awareness of water and fluidity help us better understand the relationship between our bodies and our sense of self? What can the little mermaid, who trades her fish tail and voice for human legs, teach us about authenticity and self-construction? And what do these questions mean in a theatre-context, where all attempts at self-expression are ultimately centered around the romantic gaze of the audience?

Tickets
Thursday 30 January 7:00 PM
Friday 31 January 7:00 PM
Saturday 1 February: 2:00 PM

Artistic team
Concept & direction: Kaya Korabiowska-Dean (graduating student Regie Opleiding)
Performance & co-creation: Wiktoria Kołcon, Sofia Norman, Ina Wojdyła, Leonor de Meer, Wenzhu Song, Hannah Badura, Vanessa Guinadi and Kaya Korabiowska-Dean
Creative input: Rokus Drewes
Text input: Anna op de Weegh and Handa Youn

Production team
Production: Gemma van Kruijsbergen and Daniëlle Heunks
Technical producer: Bas de Bruijn
Lights: Roan Lo-a-Njoe
Sound: Jochum Vrijland

Advisors
Dramaturgical advisor: Renée Copraij
Concept advisor: Berthe Spoelstra
Outside-eye: Lea Hegemann
Movement advice: Rita Bifulco
Vocal advice: Federica Olivieri

Special thanks to
Saghar Saharkhiz, Rosa Jaranovic, Alla Kravchenko, Selina Losa, Marc Wijker, Decoratelier, Afdeling Theatertechniek, Nara Gonçalves, George Dean, Korab Korabiowski, Teun Dijkstra, Tasch Wagenaar, Lois Maat, Olivier Diepenhorst, Robbert van Heuven and any other merpeople we failed to mention