hæuten (2012)
Concept & performance: Burkhard Körner
Advice: Ria Higler
Ecdysis (from Ancient Greek: ἐκδύω – ekduo – to take off, strip off) is the moulting of the cuticula of
invertebrates.
Since the cuticula of invertebrates often forms an inelastic exoskeleton, it is shed during growth and a new, larger covering is formed.
After moulting, an arthropod is "fresh", pale and soft-bodied. Within one or two hours, the cuticle hardens and darkens following a tanning process similar to that of
the tanning of leather. It is during this short phase that the animal expands, since growth is otherwise constrained by the rigidity of the exoskeleton.
Growth of the limbs and other parts normally covered by hard exoskeleton is achieved by transfer of body fluids from soft parts before the new skin hardens.
The maturation of the structure and coloration of the new exoskeleton might take days or weeks in a long-lived insect; this can raise problems in trying to identify the species when a specimen has just recently undergone ecdysis.
Ecdysis may also enable damaged tissue and missing limbs to be regenerated or substantially re-formed.
http://en.wikipedia.
A dance solo in shedding from layers of gender and transforming to a new hybrid form.
Premiere: June 21st, 2012 - De Theaterschool (AHK) Amsterdam
Recorded on June 21st, 2012 at De Theaterschool (AHK) Amsterdam