Arts Centre Vooruit, Ghent, Belgium

“The images are amazing, the set and the minimal lighting are reminiscent of fairytale, the throng of performers frolic on stage. All the details fit and coalesce into something subtle, yet decadent.” – Message left by Vooruit visitor Ellen on www.vooruit.be about Barkey’s previous performance ‘The Porcelain Project’.

Washy washy washy
Round and round
And makes nice sound
Never be dirty
Always be clean
That’s why we have a washing machine

A live teddy bear running a launderette is just one Grace Ellen Barkey’s kooky inventions.
Just as in ‘The Porcelain Project’ she evokes an absurd and surreal dream world in ‘This door is too small (for a bear)’. The set, the costumes and the colourful group of dancers are a feast for the eyes: performers in knitted bear suits, washing machines made out of Styrofoam, dainty Eastern decorations, and so on. Barkey’s images are like grotesque tableaux vivants from a strange universe where Tim Burton and David Lynch like to dwell. But Barkey is also inspired by Frank Zappa, beat poetry and ‘Swan Lake’. The choreography offers the audience a taste of her endless imagination, but also pushes the dancers to new limits. One moment they’re dancing across the stage energetically, and just moments later they embody intimacy and subtle emotions in tender duets. ‘This door is too small (for a bear)’ is a succession of visually spectacular images from which the viewer can distil his own story.