“Identifying ourselves as survivors, we often remain silent”, says Hana Umeda. “We don’t want the image of a victim to be projected onto our living bodies. We become invisible by fleeing from being seen as objects of pity. By evading confrontation with the experience of rape, we sentence ourselves to reliving the traumatic situation or aspects thereof as we search for lost control.”

In her new production at Komuna/Warszawa, Umeda asks how to speak honestly about rape without either turning the issue into a taboo or turning it into onstage pornography. She calls Rapeflower an investigation conducted on an own body. At that, she extends the experience of rape into a permanent state rather than a single traumatic event.

Umeda recalls the tradition of 19th-century Japanese art performed exclusively by women, to many of whom it brought the experience of violence. They sometimes fell victim of sexual abuse in con fined spaces during private performances. Movement, bodily tension, having it locked and still: all these were elements keenly observed by jiutamai mistresses as they passed knowledge on to the following generations of dancers. Hana Umeda is one of them.

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NOTE: The play deals with the subject of rape and sexual violence. Recommended for viewers over 18 years of age. The play contains nudity. Strobe lights are used in the play.

If you have experienced rape or other types of sexual violence, you can use free help at the Women's Rape Support Point run by the Feminoteka Foundation. Just call 888 88 33 88.

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Photos by Patrycja Mic