Lovísa Ósk Gunnarsdóttir

When the Bleeding Stops

Iceland The Twenty23

A performance work by Lovísa Ósk Gunnarsdóttir, When the Bleeding Stops tackles the silence and taboo that seems to engulf menopause in Western society, as well as Lovísa ́s personal experience of ageing as a dancer.
When the Bleeding Stops invites the audience into a world of vulnerability, shame, empathy and humour. The work transports us into the privacy of the participants' homes, dives deep into the many layers of the female experience associated with menopause and invites us to celebrate life in all its stages.
Lovísa wants to take part in changing the narrative on menopause in Western Society and is therefore on a mission to travel with the performance internationally, connecting to local, menopausal women in each place and inviting them to join her on stage.

Biography

Award-winning dancer and choreographer Lovísa Ósk Gunnarsdóttir has danced her whole life. She started performing in her living room at the age of four and was a full time member of Iceland Dance Company for sixteen years. Lovísa toured all over the world with the company, as well as with other independent dance groups, constantly performing and creating and working with a wide range of wonderful artists. Five years ago, at the age of forty, she suffered an injury that forced her to reconsider her relationship with dance, the body, and her artistic practice.

This process, along with the vivid feeling of an ageing body, opened her eyes to the silence around menopause and her own lack of knowledge on the subject. She began researching and interviewing menopausal women in her local community. This led her to a masters degree in Performance Practice at Iceland ́s University of the Arts where she further developed her artistic practice. There Lovísa conducted research that revolved around ageing, connecting to the body ́s deeply embedded knowledge, history, and experience, and to the big tab: menopause. She posted an open invitation online, inviting menopausal women to join the project and before she knew it, she was working with a group of amazing, middle aged women from Iceland. Out of this research her stage piece When the Bleeding Stops was born. She now works as an independent choreographer and a stage artist in Iceland and has created works for Iceland Dance Company, Reykjavík Dance Festival and Reykjavík City Theatre to name but a few. Lovísa has received awards and nominations for her work both as a choreographer and a dancer. This year, her newest creation, When the Bleeding Stops, was nominated as “the Most innovative performance of the year” at the Icelandic Theatre Awards.