Rosanna ter Steege brings her solo dance piece, Disintegrate, to the Brighton Fringe next month.
The show will “shine light on our mental state and anything that hides behind it.” Running at 35 minutes, Disintegrate “makes dissociative behaviour visual.”
Where: Fishing Museum Loft: The Old Net Room
When: 5-7 May, 7pm (plus a 1pm show on 7 May)
Ticket link: https://www.brightonfringe.org/events/disintegrate/
We caught up with Rosanna to find out a bit more about Disintegrate and the ideas behind it.
What’s the best thing about being part of Brighton Fringe?
The best thing about being part of Brighton Fringe is to get to know the people of Brighton. I always have an interest in how different kind of people from different kind of countries, backgrounds and cultures respond on my work.
What I love about sharing my work with an audience is of course to give them an experience, but also to have the chance to talk and share after the performance. This is something that I find very valuable. I have experienced beautiful conversation with people after performing.
Sometimes it’s having a dialogue with a lot of words, sometimes with just a few words and sometimes even having a dialogue in silence. It happens that the work resonates, finding the openness and trust to also share some really personal stories.
This is something I always take with me and reminds me of the importance of connecting to one another. So, I can’t wait to meet the people from Brighton, to expand my ambition to create more awareness and talk more openly about mental health.
But also, it’s amazing to be part of such a huge festival that Brighton Fringe is and to be able to meet other artists. Can’t wait to exchange!
Your show, Disintegrate, is a solo dance performance about dissociation and mental health, inspired by your own personal experience and writings. What should audiences expect?
Disintegrate is a personal story that is universal at the same time. As it’s a physical and musical expression it leaves so much room for own interpretation as well. In this way the audience can find their own way in how they can relate and connect to the work.
You can expect an intimate dance theatre performance that is speaking directly to the audience. I don’t use a “fourth wall”, so there is no separation between me as performer and the audience. The music and live set this work includes is very vibrating and even sensible.
Musician and dancer are merging together to establish an atmosphere that is contributing to the topic and it’s audience experience. For the rest.. the audience can expect to witness the vulnerability of someone that’s trying to cope with life by using her coping mechanism: dissociation.
Facing different stages of her being and different ages, from adulthood to facing her inner child.
Many shows focusing on trauma or mental health have utilised humour to make their point. Is this something you have considered doing, or find useful?
I use some humor as well in my performance. I do this as it’s in my character to laugh about myself sometimes, or a lot of times;). To remind myself, even going through tough times and serious events, to not always take myself and life too serious. I think this is also a way to cope with hard times.
In my work I use humor in the same kind of way. It’s a moment for the audience to breathe, to find some relieve and lightness which is needed to be able to also receive the more “heavier” parts of the piece. In this way there is more chance for an audience to experience more deeply within the contrasts.
What is next for you and the show after Brighton?
After Brighton we will also perform Disintegrate at Electropark Festival in Genoa Italy in July. And we will revisit the piece at Amsterdam Fringe in September.
Besides this work, I have many ideas for new work, as always 😉 But two of these ideas are already more concrete. It will be a short dance film and a new dance theatre solo.
Of course if you want to follow my work you can always add me on social media;) : https://www.instagram.com/rosannatersteege/ or have a look on my website : https://rosannatersteege.nl/
Besides the dancing, I’m still writing a lot. Journaling, but also finding a way to publish my autobiography. This is a really big wish of mine. Same as making it into a movie.. But yeah, step by step;)
Image credit: Kim Doeleman/Manoah Salampessy