Performance
Shield is a Weapon
Liza Baliasnaja
- Dates
- Saturday 23 May, 20:00
- Duration
- 45 min. to 60 min.
In a world that is portrayed as dangerous, processes of protective shielding are inextricably linked to our everyday lives. When simplified narrative replaces differentiated discourse, contradictory perspectives are quickly misunderstood as an attack. Shields, walls, gates, and borders are erected to separate and protect the inside from the potentially threatening outside.
In the solo Shield is a Weapon, the boundary between inside and outside, between the self and the other is choreographically explored through movement, vocal soundscapes, and text. The mouth becomes both a shield and a gate, which, once opened, speaks in many tongues and expresses the polyphony of the individual subject.
What otherness is at work within me? Which invasive voices do I host? Who guards my throat?
In this piece, choreographer and performer Liza Baliasnaja continues her ongoing exploration of how emotions such as fear and disgust shape our political imagination. This time, the focus is on the symbol of the shield, which offers protection while simultaneously indicating impending conflict. The work examines the ambivalent interplay of vulnerability and aggression, of concealment and confrontation. Through the change of perspective, sometimes behind, sometimes in front of the shield, the work reflects on topics such as polarization, (self-)censorship and politics of defence.
Liza Baliasnaja
Over the past decade, Liza Baliasnaja has been active as a choreographer, performer and pedagogue, working between Lithuania, Belgium, France, and Germany. She studied dance at P.A.R.T.S. and philosophy at KU Leuven. Since 2023, she has been based in Cologne.
Liza’s artistic work explores themes of power, violence, and subjectivity, with a recent focus on the emotions of fear and disgust. She is particularly interested in choreographing with diverse materials, often integrating writing and voice into her body-based research.
Her performance practice is shaped by collaborations with artists such as Eszter Salamon, Christine De Smedt, Lenio Kaklea, Lina Lapelytė, Ula Sickle, DD Dorvillier, and Mårten Spångberg, among many others. Her work has been presented at numerous festivals including New Baltic Dance (LT), Contempo (LT), FAVORITEN (DE), Bâtard (BE), Radiant Nights (BE), Almost Summer/ Feminist Futures (BE).
Together with Rūta Junevičiūte she is co-facilitating an ongoing workshop series/ research Sore Spots, addressing how unresolved history manifests in the body. In 2025, her performance Chiaroscuro was nominated for Lithuania’s highest theatre award, the Golden Stage Cross. Her latest work Shield is Weapon premiered at Tanzhaus NRW and is currently on tour.
Credits
- Choreography and performance
- Liza Baliasnaja
- Sound and composition
- Pablo Garreton
- Dramaturgy and text collaboration
- Rūta Junevičiūtė
- Scenography and objects
- Liza Baliasnaja together with Jara Vlaeminckx / Cachet
- Lights and technical direction
- Julio Ernesto Escobar Mellado
- Costume
- Laura Stellacci
- Vocal coaching
- Britta Tekotte
- Outside eye
- Amanda Barrio Charmelo
- Produced by
- Liza Baliasnaja, in co-production with Tanzhaus nrw and Tanzfaktur Köln
- Funded by
- Kunststiftung NRW, Ministry of Culture and Science of the State of NRW, NRW Landesbüro Freie Darstellende Künste