Budapest, Hungary – The Berlin-based LGBTQ+ performance collective Queerdos is organising a free workshop in Budapest from the 23rd to the 27th of September 2019, based on the concept of intersectionality and collective creation.
Open to all queer- and trans-identified performers based in Budapest, the week-long workshop session will consist of a mix of creative writing exercises, psychological games, trust-building techniques, music and spoken word practice, and will lead to a collectively devised spoken word performance at Auróra, on the 28th of September.
The project is part of a city partnership between Berlin and Budapest realised with the support of the Governing Mayor of Berlin.
Open call for Budapest-based LGBTQ+ performers
According to the Queerdos communique, “every story is a valuable one and therefore everyone identified as LGBTQI+ is welcome to apply, regardless of age, background and stage experience”.
“In a safe and friendly environment, you will be encouraged to ask the questions you have always wanted to ask with a view to building visibility through performance in order to develop and nurture a more inclusive working environment and creative practice”.
In order to apply, Budapest-based performers are encouraged to write a short introduction about themselves in English, mentioning how their story or experience would contribute to the project and email it to queerdos.berlin@gmail.com no later than the 10th of September.
The message should also confirm that the applicant will be able to commit to the daily working sessions from the 23rd to the 28th of September. The sessions will be held in English, so a fair understanding of the language is desired.
Selected participants will be announced no later than the 15th of September.
Based on the concept of intersectionality and collective creation
The training sessions will be facilitated by four Berlin-based Queerdos artists: Cat Jugravu, Andrei Raicu, Jenny Browne and Luqua Bertini.
Held by Romanian-born drag performer and Queerdos co-founder Cat Jugravu, the performing/staging session will be at the core of the workshop, approaching space and movement awareness and focus techniques which will enable the performers to better connect words with feelings and imagery.
The music sessions, animated by Romanian theatre director and sound designer Andrei Raicu, will focus on presenting different types of theatre and performance music, such as pre-recorded music, live music (made by performers) and interactivity.
Facilitated by British writer Jenny Browne, the writing sessions will assist the performers with how poetry can be used as a tool for a deeper level of introspection and self-expression, through different poetic forms and approaches.
French set designer Luqua Bertini will be designing the space for the performance in which participants will be given the chance to be creative alongside him as part of the week-long workshop.
The rest of the team is composed of Patrycja Rup, a Polish activist and art curator living and working in Budapest and a member of the Spectrum LGBTQI+ club at CEU, and Alina Karnics, a co-founder of Budapest Micro, the first microtheatre in Hungary, engaged in the pre-production and post-production of the ACT UP for LGBTQI+ visibility project.
Bringing ‘misfits’ together in a safe space
Berlin-based Queerdos is a transdisciplinary performative project focusing on initiating discourses and dialogues in the frame of an LGBTQI+ narrative. By engaging in theatrical work using mainly spoken word with various artists belonging to queer minorities in Berlin and other cities where queer politics are often ignored or looked down upon, they hope to promote acceptance and understanding on a larger scale and to utilise its great potential for impact. LGBTQ budapest
Subjects such as abuse, trans and homophobia, racism, and xenophobia are very often addressed in their performances.
Queerdos aims towards creating a platform for free speech and artistic expression in the queer community, emphasising tolerance, integration and awareness. Spoken word as a performance lightens up the sometimes hard-to-digest political contexts through the usage of elements (singing, dancing, spoken word, stand-up comedy etc) which can reach a mixed audience.
The collective says it hopes to bring “the community of what society deems as ‘misfits’ together in a safe space for expression and learning”.
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