LOUNGE

Marga Alfeirão

The word “lounge” is both a verb, meaning to sit or lie in a relaxed way, and a noun, meaning a public room where people may relax. Lounging is both an action and a place, a space that you shape and inhabit and savour. This dual nature of rest, of waiting, of moving and being moved, is at the heart of this piece.

Lounge is a duet for two female-identifying bodies. Together they move through states of active and passive rest, shifting from reclining and positioning themselves, to finding pleasure in the duration of repetitive motions. The lounge as a public as opposed to solitary space is also important here. The performers use each other’s presence to go deeper into themselves and into the vibe. Permeating the piece is the notion of the Invisible Lapdance, consisting of small, nearly imperceptible dances that use the gaze to blur the borders between the giver and receiver. This choreographic strategy highlights and interrogates the relationship between dancer and audience, public and private, seeing and being seen. Sensuality is integral to this piece, and consequently so too is the atmosphere. The light and music nourish and sustain, a shoulder to lean on, a lap upon which the dancers can sit.  

By relying on erotics and building togetherness, Lounge taps into the comfort of rest as an active claim of womanhood. Heaven might be a place on earth, but you are in the waiting room and not in a rush. You lean into expectation and linger in sensation. The promise of eternal rest, peace, and blissful sleep is beckoning. This transitory space prepares you for it. I needed you lap for a little. Could you give me a hand? You could also sit on my lap or lay your head on it and rest. I can sing lullabies at your ear and later whine on your face. It might fall on your lap and that’s ok, we can chill.

Marga Alfeirão (Lisbon, 1994) uses media to carve safe spaces for the exploration of intimacy and sexuality through dance and performance. Heavily influenced by dance genres and sound textures from the African diaspora disseminated through Lisbon’s social tissue, Alfeirão attempts an active claim of womanhood, making room for female and feminine-gazed sensualities. Lounge (2023) was awarded the 8:tension Young choreographers Award. In the same year she premiered No Biggie Deal, a solo on Notorious B.I.G., the Brooklyn rapper, deriving from tabloidism and nostalgia inciting the question – is Biggie bisexual? Her first group work no c o r a cã o dela premiered last December, together with a team of eight artists, in Sophiensæle, Berlin.

CREDITS

Choreography, performance and concept
Marga Alfeirão

Development and performance
Mariana Benenge & Myriam Lucas

Music and mixing
Shaka Lion

Set design
Yoav Admoni

Costumes
Nani Bazar

Lighting design
Thais Nepomuceno

Support on distribution
Neon lobster / Giulia Messia & Katharina Wallisch

Dramaturgy
Mateusz Szymanowka

Thanks to
Francisca Spuzi

A production by Marga Alfeirão, in co-production with Sophiensæle, Berlin.