MY FREEDOM
IS YOUR
DISTORTED GAZE
PREMIERE 15th MAY 2026 - SUMMERBLUT FESTIVAL COLOGNE
Artistic direction and choreography : Céline Bellut
Performance: Danijel Sesar
Film editing and music composition : Thalia Killer
Music composition and live coding : Vasko Damjanov
Live AI Visualist : Maxim Diehl
Produced by Cie EGG
Co-produced by Summerblut festival
Supported by the CND Centre national de la danse
This project was realized with the support of FREIRAUM, a space for conceptual collaboration and work for the arts, and with the support of the residency program Tanzatelier 0.10 in Quartier am Hafen.
This work was produced with the financial assistance of the European Union. The views expressed herein can in no way be taken to reflect the official opinion of the European Union.
Showing | Freiraum , Düsseldorf, DE | August 23rd 2025
Sortie de résidence | CN D Lyon, Lyon, FR | January 9th 2026
PREMIERE | Summerblut Festival, Cologne DE | 15th May 2024
Summerblut Festival, Cologne, DE | 16th May 2024
more dates to come
RECREATION OF THE SOLO JA EST BI EST BI EST BI
Under capitalism, bodies are often treated like optimized machines: productive, flawless, standardized. “My Freedom Is Your Distorted Gaze” breaks with this dictate. The piece is based on the solo “Ja est bi est bi its bi” by Céline Bellut and has been further developed by Danijel Sesar. Through his personal history, political struggles, and cultural heritage, he rewrites the performance. Drawing inspiration from the cyberpunk cultural movement and its echoes in transhumanist dystopias, exhaustion and imperfection become radical forms of resistance.
The performance is a powerful meditation on the body’s ability to evade mechanisms of control. Here, virtuosity is redefined—freed from ableist standards that recognize only “normalized” bodies as capable of high performance. Through the combination of dance and intensive video use, a hybrid space emerges that also critically questions the representation of bodies in digital environments. It is a celebration of vulnerability and chaos as a response to a world that prioritizes efficiency over individuality.
By consciously allowing instability and mistakes, Danijel Sesar transforms the stage into a place of liberation. An evening that shows that true freedom often lies in the “distorted gaze” of the other—where we stop conforming to others’ expectations.
The final form combines choreographic performance with extensive use of video and generative AI techniques. This hybrid approach opens a space for reflecting on inclusivity and the normative frameworks that govern the representation of bodies within digital and virtual environments. Video projection and repetition play an essential role here: revealing a deep societal issue. Our societies have built an implicit ideal of the “neutral” body — white, male, cisgender, able-bodied, young, and aligned with dominant aesthetic standards.
This solo seeks to overturn and deconstruct that notion by placing Danijel at the center of the comparison, not against an external model but against himself. Through the layering of projected images and live performance, the audience is invited to witness the multiple possibilities of a single body, freed from any imposed ideal. Each repetition becomes its own point of reference, its own standard, opening a space where singularity itself becomes an act of resistance.
