Internationale Plattform für inklusive Bühnenkunst

Lisi Estaras

comes from Cordoba, Argentina, where she also began dancing. After combining her studies in social work with professional dance training, she left Argentina at the age of 19 to study at the Rubin Academy of Music and Dance in Jerusalem. Soon afterwards, she became a member of the renowned Batsheva Dance Company in Tel Aviv.

After five years in Israel, Lisi moved to Europe and became part of the company les ballets C de la B in 1997. She was part of the creation process and danced in pieces such as Iets op Bach, Wolf, VSPRS, Pitié!, C(H)ŒURS and Tauberbach by Alain Platel, Tempus Fugit by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui and Learning how to walk by Benny Claessens (NTGent).

In the meantime, she has choreographed the pieces Patchagonia, Bolero, The Gaza Monologues, primero-erscht and Dans Dans, a co-production with het KIP (Ghent) under the umbrella of les ballets C de la B.

She has created and danced in her own works such as Bartime with Einat Tuchman (Campo), Cocina Erotica, No Wonder & Hillbrowfication with Constanza Macras (Schaubühne & Gorki Theater, Berlin), Leche (Passerelle) and A distancia (Teatro Real, Córdoba). Lisi choreographs for theater plays and trains other artists/companies.

She worked on Hiob by Sandra Strunz (Theater Bonn), Das Brennende Haus by Emilio Garcia Wehbi and Maricel Alvarez (Stadttheater Bern), The speech for the dancer Irene Russolillo (Festival Equilibrium, Rome) and Het Hamilton Complex by Lies Pauwels (HETPALEIS Antwerp), which was also shown in German at the Staatstheater Bochum.

In 2015, she created and danced the solo La Esclava with choreographer Ayelen Parolin (La Biennale de Charleroi, les Brigitinnes, Centre Wallonie-Bruxelles (Paris), Le Gymnase (Roubaix), Julidans (Amsterdam).

In 2016, she created the performance Monkey Mind with three dancers with Down syndrome for Platform K (Belgium). This creation was significant for her later choreographic work, as the dance material offered by the dancers with disabilities strengthened her artistic direction. The principle of the “Monkey Mind”, which refers to “the endless chatter in your head as you jump from one thought to another, like a monkey jumping from tree to tree”. The method uses changing thoughts and translating them into movements and words. Lisi received a grant from the Flemish government to research her “Monkey Mind” method. This research focused on kinaesthetics, empathy and mirror neurons. It has a link to art (dance) brut and will be further researched and developed in upcoming projects.

In Ghent, she created Le Sacre du Printemps together with Alain Platel and Quan Bui Gnoc, which got more than 200 people dancing on the streets of Ghent on Dance Day 2018. The Teatro Calderòn in Valladolid (E) subsequently invited Lisi and Quan to perform a new version in their city in 2019.

In early 2019, Lisi created The Jewish Connection Project in collaboration with Ido Batash, a piece for five dancers and a soprano (premiere on February 14 and 15 at Campo Gent).

Bibliomaniacs premiered in October 2020. A dance piece that Lisi created with 6 dancers from the Itinerant Dance Ensemble in a production by Dorky Park I Constanza Macras (Berlin). On the occasion of her 50th birthday, Lisi performed a solo entitled #THISISBEAUTY.

In 2021 and 2022, Lisi worked as a guest choreographer at Mercat de les Flors (Barcelona), Raumstation 12 gbr (Berlin), the Flemish Opera (Ghent) and the Napoli Theater, among others.