‘There are some stories which need to be retold by each generation.’ Virginia Woolf, 1927
We are thirteen.
We are between fourteen and nineteen years old
and (don’t) feel like girls or women.
We talk.
We speak the words of writers and thinkers,
from Virginia Woolf to Susan Sontag,
from Toni Morrison to Maggie Nelson.
They take shape in us.
We find shape in each other.
We make ourselves who we are
and what we want to become,
what we can become,
because the possibilities are infinite.
We are a snapshot of the now.
A state of affairs.
A manifesto for the future.
In PASSING THE BECHDEL TEST, choreographer Jan Martens opts for language in a radical manner. Because free speech is one of the few instruments left to liberate ourselves.*
Together with 13 youths, Jan draws up a report on the state of affairs in matters of gender diversity and gender equality in the world today. They crawl into each other’s skin and into that of women authors and personalities from the past and present, from Woolf to Winterson, from Sontag to Solnit. Text fragments from letters, diaries, lyrics, essays and TED talks form the frame of the performance. Drawing on his choreographic perspective, Jan Martens designs a manifesto for the future.
* paraphrasing Rachida Lamrabet
credits
BY: Jan Martens
WITH: Isabel Braamkolk, Noor Caestecker, A. Claassen, Renée De Coninck, Luna Glowacki, Bente Govaerts, Noor Hollemeersch, Birgit Lesage, Marie Libens, Hannah Peiren, Celina Vercruysse, Yanou Van Dessel & Mirren Vandenberk
ARTISTIC ASSISTANCE: Kimmy Ligtvoet
DRAMATURGY: Peter Anthonissen
ADVICE: Rudi Meulemans
LIGHTING DESIGN: Elke Verachtert
COSTUME ADVICE: Lotte Stek
SURTITLING: Erik Borgman
PRODUCTION MANAGEMENT: Teresa Wouters & Sylvie Svanberg
DISTRIBUTION: Vincent Company
INTERNATIONAL DISTRIBUTION: A Propic / Line Rousseau & Marion Gauvent
THANKS TO: Renée Copraij, Fransien van der Putt, Moos van den Broek, Simone Atangana Bekono & Siska Baeck
PRODUCED BY: fABULEUS & GRIP
CO-PRODUCED BY: tanzhaus nrw & STUK
WITH THE SUPPORT OF: the Flemish Government & City of Leuven
With excerpts from:
'Het tegenovergestelde van een mens' by Lieke Marsman. Copyright © 2017, Atlas Contact
'Interviews Herta Müller, Toni Morrison & Dorothy Parker' in The Paris Review. Copyright © 2018, The Paris Review, used by permission of The Wylie Agency (UK) Limited
'Het drama van de afhankelijkheid' by Connie Palmen. Copyright © 2017, Uitgeverij Prometheus
'WITTIG, GUÉRILLÈRE D'AUJOURD'HUI' by Claire Devarrieux in Libération. Copyright © 1999, Libération, used by permission of Libération and the Monique Wittig Literary Estate
encounter between Selm Wenselaers and the Passing The Bechdel Test cast
VRT news item 'Ik zal me blijven verzetten tegen dit racistische volkslied' by Edmond Knevels, quote by Harper Nielsen. Copyright 2018, VRT.
'Zwijg, allochtoon!' by Rachida Lamrabet. Copyright © 2017, Uitgeverij Epo, used by permission of Rachida Lamrabet
Interview Joël De Ceulaer with Patricia De Maertelaere in Knack. Copyright 2007, Knack, used by permission of Knack
Made in Europe' by Katja de Bruin with Niña Weijers, VPRO gids. Copyright © 2017, VPRO, used by permission of VRPO gids and Niña Weijers
'The Uses of Anger: Women Responding to Racism, from the collection Sister Outsider' by Audre Lorde © 1984, 2007 by Audre Lorde, used by permission of the Audre Lorde Estate
Visiting Artist Lecture Series // Brown Visual Art Presents Catherine Opie at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, Copyright © 2017, used by permission of Catherine Opie
'Waakhond' by Rebekka de Wit in Rekto:Verso. Copyright @ 2016, Rekto:Verso, used by permission of Rebekka de Wit.
Interview Vivian Gornick in The Paris Review. Copyright © 2018, The Paris Review, used by permission of The Wylie Agency (UK) Limited
'Hoe de eerste vonken zichtbaar waren' by Simone Atangana Bekono. Copyright © 2018, Wintertuin Literair Productiehuis, used by permission of Simone Atangana Bekono and Wintertuin Literair Productiehuis
'Reborn' by Susan Sontag. Copyright @ 2009, Penguin Group. Used by permission of The Wylie Agency (UK) Limited
Briefroman by Juli Zeh Copyright © 2013 Verlagsgruppe Random House. Nederlandse vertaling Copyright © 2014 Ambo|Anthos uitgevers, Amsterdam en Annemarie Vlaming
VRT news item 'Waarom moeten wij zwijgen?' by Guy De Troyer with Rachida Lamrabet. Copyright 2018, VRT, used by permission of Rachida Lamrabet
Editorial Girls Like Us 11, FUTURE. Copyright © 2017, Girls Like Us is a feminist, queer arts publication mapping roads towards a non-patriarchy.
Interview Margaret Atwood in The Paris Review. Copyright © 2018, The Paris Review, used by permission of The Wylie Agency (UK) Limited
'Jane Eyre' by Charlotte Brönte. Copyright @ 2003, Penguin Classics
'Grandmother Spider', from 'Men Explain Things to me' door Rebecca Solnit. Copyright 2014, Haymarket Books, used by permission of Agari, Inc.
'Media watch: Celebrating women's words.' by Marie Shear in the magazine New Directions for Women. 1986: vol. 15. Copyright © 1986, New Directions for Women
'Three Guineas' by Virginia Woolf. Copyright © 1938 Hogarth Press, used by permission of Society of Authors
'Oprah and Ellen Remember the History-Changing 'Coming Out' Episode' in The Ellen Show. Copyright 2017 Ellen Degeneres
'Living a Feminist Life' by Sara Ahmed. Copyright 2017, Duke University Press, used by permission of Sara Ahmed
Interview Marguerite Yourcenar in The Paris Review. Copyright © 2018, The Paris Review, used by permission of The Wylie Agency (UK) Limited
'Why I am not longer talking to white people about race' by Reni Eddo-Lodge. Copyright © 2017 Bloomsbury Publishing Plc., used by permission of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
TED talk 'We should all be feminist' by Chamamanda Ngozi Adichie. Copyright 2014 Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Used by permission of The Wylie Agency (UK)
Limited
'Mr. Chesterton in hysterics. A study in predjudice' by Rebecca West. Copyright @ 1913, THE CLARION, used by permission of Peters Fraser & Dunlop (www.petersfraserdunlop.com) on behalf of the Estate of Rebecca West
'The house in Paris' by Elizabeth Bowen. Copyright @ 1898, Penguin Vintage Classics
'A Vindication of the Rights of Woman' by Mary Wollstonecraft. Copyright @ 2004, Penguin Classics
'Agent of Change: An Interview with bell hooks by Helen Tworkov' by Trycicle Magazine. Copyright © 1992, Trycicle Magazine, used by permission of the bell hooks institute
'VII. Vera, from my childhood.' From 'The Common Woman Poems' by Judy Grahn. Copyright 2016 JudyGrahn.com
'The letters of Vita Sackville-West and Virginia Woolf' Copyright Vita Sackville-West. Used by permission of the Curtis Brown Group on behalf of the Estate of Vita Sackville-West.
Letter by Lorena Hickok from 'Empty Without You: The Intimate Letters Of Eleanor Roosevelt And Lorena Hickok' by Rodger Streitmatter (Editor). Copyright © 2000, Da Capo
Speech Ellen Page delivered at Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s inaugural Time to Thrive conference. Copyright @ 2014 Ellen Page
'The Argonauts' by Maggie Nelson. Copyright @ 2016, used by permission of Maggie Nelson and Janklow & Nesbit Associates
Acceptance Speech by Adrienne Rich of the National Book Award 1974, text written by Adrienne Rich, Alice Walker and Audre Lorde. Copyright 1974 © Adrienne Rich, Alice Walker and Audre Lorde
'It was a testimony for the world', an interview with Anita Hill by the Washington Post. Copyright @ 2017 The Washington Post and Anita Hill
Speech of US Senator California Kamala Harris to Christine Blasey Ford: 'You are not on trial'. Copyright © 2018 Kamala Harris
'Hanging Fire' – from Black Unicorn by Audre Lorde, © 1978, 1997 by Audre Lorde, used by permession of the Audre Lorde Estate
'Why be happy when you could be normal' by Jeanette Winterson. Copyright @ 2012 Penguin Vintage
Interview with Baileys prize winner Ali Smith: 'The canon is traditionally male. That is what this book is about' by Charlotte Higgins in The Guardian. Copyright © 2015 The Guardian.
Michaël Bellon, BRUZZ, 09.11.2018
