ME TOO, GALATÉE

In Ovid's Metamorphoses, Pygmalion takes refuge in celibacy after his encounter with the sexually dominant Propoetidae women wears down the proud sculptor's ego. With her perfect beauty and submissiveness, the ivory statue of Galatea, which he created himself, finally makes him happy: his dream woman, soon brought to life by Venus, the goddess of love. Brazilian choreographer Pol Pi sees in the story the founding myth of all fantasies about the female body and reduces this patriarchal view to absurdity by adorning himself with fruit and transforming himself into an object of phantasmagorical sensuality. Tropical colours and whipped cream on bare skin play with images of fertility, conception and procreation as they walk the line between masculinity and femininity. Reflecting these metamorphoses, the body in ME TOO, GALATEA becomes a festival ground for visual and intellectual reflections that challenge conventional, patriarchal role models. The title of the piece refers to the Me Too movement and questions our morals in relation to the body as an object of desire. Pol Pi and his colourful delicacies thus engage in an intriguing, subtle game of projections. And while the political significance of this multi-layered metaphor cannot be denied, especially in times of arch-conservative offensives, Pi creates images that celebrate poetic and refreshing notes.