Poetic Unveiling: Lenio Kaklea’s Untitled (Figures)

ImpulsTanz [ENA] Lenio Kaklea’s Untitled (Figures), presented in its Austrian premiere at the Schauspielhaus in frames of the ImpulsTanz festival, is a masterclass in intimate choreographic storytelling and embodied queerness. Across two commissioned pieces, Kaklea traverses the delicate terrain of identity, gaze, and self-love with a visceral clarity that lingers long after the performance ends.

Grounded in dedications to queer pioneers—from Jill Johnston to Jean Genet—the work unfolds as an exploration of loving the female body, seen and unseen. Kaklea’s movement is at once lyrical and rigorous: subtle gestures blossom into fluid full-body articulations, inviting the audience into her search for self-ownership. Moments of nudity are not exploitative but courageous, as her bare skin becomes a canvas of vulnerability and celebration. The multi-layered soundscape by Éric Yvelin mingles Baroque echoes (a Purcell hornpipe) and Madonna’s Express Yourself, forging a dialogue between historical and contemporary modes of self-expression.

Jill Johnston’s voice, woven through the performance, adds an intellectual and emotional resonance, bridging movement and idea. Under Jean Marc Ségalen’s sculptural lighting and Olivier Mullin’s fluid costume design, the stage becomes a mutable space—shifting between mythic introspection and raw corporeality. Dramaturge Lou Forster’s subtle shaping ensures the piece flows with poetic coherence. By intercepting archival movement—tiny gestures echoing Agnes de Mille’s Rodeo—Kaklea weaves lineage into her own narrative. This is dance as genealogy: reclaiming, reframing, and reanimated through the artist’s body.

At 50 minutes, Untitled (Figures) is concise yet denser than most evening-length works. It does not demand passive viewing; rather, it challenges audiences to reflect on gaze, history, and embodiment in a fiercely personal yet generously shared performance. Lenio Kaklea has delivered a work of striking sensitivity and formal poise—modern dance that speaks to heart, mind, and skin.