Zoe Katsilerou

Explore 2024 recipient, Zoe Katsilerou is a performer and maker with a background in dance-theatre, devised and socially engaged theatre, polyphonic singing and improvisation. Originally from Greece, she lives in Shipley and works across the North of England and Scotland as a freelance practitioner and part-time lecturer in Performing Arts at Leeds Beckett University.

Zoe’s choreographic work is rooted in improvisation and draws on her range of disciplines. Incorporating dance, theatre and music, her practice and research are interested in relationships between choreography and storytelling, and the poetic qualities these can evoke. Zoe uses her performances as a way of reflecting on her observations of the socio-political and ecological of her everyday life and hopes that it will evoke pertinent discussions between her and her audiences.

Through the Explore fund, Zoe will collaborate with theatre-maker Hannah Butterfield, to explore the invisible aspects of motherhood and the impact these have on the body and mental health. Through choreography, choral singing, and autobiographical text, they will explore the acts of care towards babies that are often not seen, disregarded, or even considered acts of care.

“We rock, we lift, we hold, we lie under, we carry. We stumble, we drop, we ache, we are numb. We love, we care, we caress, we kiss, we hug. Invisible Acts of Care is a physical and vocal exploration of personal, almost invisible moments of our motherhood.”

Becoming a mother has meant Zoe has taken time away from her practice and work.

“This new life has changed me in profound ways and I cannot wait to use this opportunity to (re)discover who I am now as a maker, performer and collaborator. Having this time to remember, imagine and experiment will nourish me and allow me to have the space and time to understand how I want my work to exist within the Bradford scene.”

This research will be informed by Zoe and Hannah’s experiences working and engaging with those seeking sanctuary in the UK and mothers from different cultural contexts. Within these spaces, they have learnt that aspects of caring for children transcend language barriers and cultural differences.

“With this new work, we aim to focus on the embodied actions of care which are seemingly more universal and ancestral. We make this work to fill the gaps of what we don’t have the words to speak, and are exploring the moments of shared understanding between people who have significant roles of ‘care’.  This time will enable us to identify choreographic and vocal material that truly reflects how we felt when becoming mothers, and will address universal questions of invisibility, labour and care within motherhood.”