SARAH Blanc travels from beauty product addict to born-again feminist, choreographer and comedian in her partly autobiographical show My Feminist Boner at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, on February 13.
Blanc’s performance “grapples with extreme societal pressures on the female body and the conflict women feel between indulging in the beauty industry and maintaining their feminist ideals”.
“Why does the world place such unattainable beauty standards on women? What does it mean to be a feminist today?” she asks.
My Feminist Boner combines honest confessionals and a show-and-tell of beauty contraptions with conversations with her feminist-hating Dad, progressively grotesque movement and satirical humour, as Blanc reveals her anger at “the commodification of women’s bodies” and exposes the absurdity of the beauty industry.
Blanc, an independent choreographer and performer from Ireland, creates bold work that straddles the boundaries of dance, theatre and comedy. She makes not only solo shows but also ensemble work for adults and children with her all-female inclusive dance company Moxie Brawl.
“I create work that challenges preconceptions of what dance and dancers look like, that champions the representation of diverse bodies on stage,” she says. “My work aims to take risks without alienating people and is engaging to a wide range of audience.”
Blanc has worked in dance and inclusive practice for more than ten years and has delivered projects for Greenwich Dance, GLYPT and East London Dance, along with choreographic commissions such as A Pacifist’s Guide To The War On Cancer for Complicité/Bryony Kimmings. Her 2016 solo show It Started With Jason Donovan won a 2016 Brighton Fringe Award.
Tickets for My Feminist Boner’s 7.45pm performance in the McCarthy are on sale on 01723 370541 or at sjt.uk.com.