Teatrino della Collegiata, Santarcangelo Festival, Santarcangelo, Italy
July 5 -9 and July 12 – 14, 2019
Lighter Than Woman is a documentary performance that reflects on how a group of women from wildly different backgrounds overcome the gravity of work; learning to live with ambivalence and finding meaning and joy in their new circumstances.
During the creative residency, Kristina has met and filmed badanti, who appear on screen in this piece that merges moving image and performance. We meet Halina, a “badante di dolci” because her pies and pastries are extraordinary; Marina, a poet and the author of the hymn of badante, and many others. We meet the families for whom they work, and see the emotional complexity that comes with the labor of care.
We see the different forms that the desire for emancipation takes for each of these women. Moving to another country, freedom from heavy physical labour, pursuing professional careers. Creating art: the ultimate emancipation from reality. Or even overcoming literal gravity, as in the case of Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti.
Together, these women defy all odds, create surprising alliances and build beautiful lives despite the state of “not-here-neither-there”, experienced as a constant state of weightlessness.
Norman weaves a beautiful, complex, unexpected narrative, that hopes to inspire a sense of pride in the tenacity of the human spirit.
More information: santarcangelofestival.com