BAKANEKO
Charlotte Goesaert

A documentary physical performance about trauma, the reality that lives under the skin and the blind spots of our society.

In BAKENEKO, performer and creator Charlotte Goesaert herself is on stage in a physical solo about how trauma takes root in the body - invisible to the outside world, but all-consuming from within. The performance exposes the latent traces of child abuse and neglect, while questioning the mechanisms that perpetuate them.

Starting from conversations with people who come into contact with these issues from their social roles, Goesaert interweaves their voices, images and sound with the expressive presence of her own body. This creates a penetrating scenic experience in which documentary elements and physical imagination challenge each other.

BAKENEKO is not a search for ready-made answers, but an invitation to collective reflection. Why is it that we so often notice signals too late? Why don't we intervene more quickly? What needs to change to better protect children? How do we deal with a reality we would rather forget? Where is the line between compassion and discomfort? Goesaert immerses the audience in an experience that chafes, touches and lingers. In a world where trauma often stays under the surface, this performance invites us to focus our gaze - as citizens, professionals, parents, fellow human beings.

After whatchamacallit, Charlotte Goesaert deepens her unique formal language in which image, body and sound come together in a physical, vulnerable and confrontational performance that makes visible what usually remains unseen.

Credits:

by and with Charlotte Goesaert
in co-creation with Sara Vanderieck & Jochem Baelus
sound & video composition : Jochem Baelus
Lighting design & scenography: Lucas van Haesbroeck
Technical design: Thierry Wilders
Costume design and styling: Sofie Velghe
Outside-eye: Camille Paycha
Sound/shoots: Alec de Bruyn
Managing director: Astrid de Haes
Production manager: Bo Verpoten

co-producers: DansBrabant, KAAP, C-TAKT, Vlaams Cultuurhuis de Brakke Grond, Platform 0090 with financial support from the Flemish Government.
Thanks to all interviewees, Stormkop, Loods21, Kwinten van Laethem, Jo Thielemans, Jochem van Tol, Karolien Derwael