Ilse Ghekiere

Delving into Dance

“Problem comes when there is no transparency in the hierarchy”

Ilse Ghekiere is a Belgian artist, writer, researcher, teacher and historian. As a dancer she has worked with choreographers Michèle Anne De Mey, Mette Ingvartsen and Jan Martens.

I came to know Ilse’s work through an article that was published last year about #METOO moments in dance. The article was captivating and revealed a side of dance that is seldom talked about. The article sparked many conversations and has sparked a range of actions, including: ENGAGEMENT. Launched on International Women's Day, ENGAGEMENT is an artist-led platform that seeks to tackle sexual harassment, sexism and the abuse of power in arts. The website provides practical advice to all sectors of the creative arts.

This was a great conversation and one that has so many different focuses. One of the things we do discuss is how to critique a field that you dearly love. We also discussed the particular structures in dance that have left women and young dancers too often disempowered.

“What is very specific about dance is that our profession is directly linked to our body and that invites a blurring of the private and the professional, that can often be sort of liberating, but it deviates away from a certain norm of how we think about our bodies. But I think it can also be very confusing and problematic, especially because, we have been trained in education to push our boundaries - so to talk about boundaries is a very interesting conversation”.

“We are expected in certain contexts to be sexualized objects.”