Monster Mash
workshop series with Mette Sterre, Lady Bag and Ainhoa Hernández Escudero
Monster Mash is a three-day workshop series where Mette Sterre, Lady Bag, and Ainhoa Hernández Escudero join forces to create a tour de force full of fun. Together, they invite you to explore your inner monster and give place and face to the more-than-50% non-human cells that make up every human body.
In the workshop, Lady Bag guides participants in building their own movement vocabulary through physical play and sculpting the body with accessories and materials. We will begin by warming up through dancing with bags—our first prosthetic companions—before swapping them for other objects, costume pieces, and materials.
Ainhoa Hernández Escudero shares DIY makeup and costume techniques developed through drag, alongside physical and character-building exercises from their theatre and dance training. Through playfulness you will learn more about costume making, face paint, and how to construct your demonology by deep diving into the body language of your persona.
Through experimentation, we’ll explore how adding elements to the body can enhance, limit, or radically shift movement. As we discover our “enhanced” bodies, we’ll bring these new possibilities into space through group play. The session climaxes in a Monster Catwalk, where we present their transformed physicality—showing off their altered movements, and creaturely styles.
This series prepares for a collective performance at the Monster Ball at W139, which will take place on Thursday 30 October.
Who are we looking for:
- You are able to join all three workshop sessions (Monday 6 Oct, 13 Oct, 20 Oct)
- You are available to participate in the collective performance
- A commitment to explore performing in public space
- Eagerness to learn and play together
- You embrace the sometimes unpleasantness of the unknown
- You don’t mind awkwardness
- Openness to explore the movement potential of your body
- Willingness to work on your monstrosity homework in between workshops
Each session begins with a shared warm meal.
There are only 12 spots available. Please fill in the complete application form so we can get to know you. You can apply for the workshop program via this link.
Workshop — Monday 6 Oct, 13 Oct, 20 Oct, 18:00-22:00
Admission fee: €30 / students €20 (incl. light catering)
Peter Cripps Clark, AKA Lady Bag, grew up in Melbourne, Australia, where he began his formal dance training, completing it at ArtEZ University of the Arts in 2015. After dancing for Konzert Theater Bern and Marion Zurbach’s Unplush company, Peter joined the House of Hopelezz in 2019, an Amsterdam-based drag family. Peter’s drag persona, Lady Bag, performs regularly around the city—exploring object-oriented performance and developing Bag-Aerobics, a drag movement workshop focused on dancing with bags. These workshops have been presented at institutions of arts education including the Rietveld Academie, SNDO, and ArtEZ.
Ainhoa Hernández Escudero is an interdisciplinary maker, performer, and cultural worker from Carabanchel, Madrid, based in Amsterdam. They are part of the drag House of Løstbois. In her work, she explores the strange and the monstrous at the intersection of magic, pop, the post-internet aesthetic, technology, and mainstream culture. Ainhoa is a research coach at the Bachelor Dance Artist at ARTEZ.
