TAKE CARE
Live performance, 2021 (30’)

Concept, text, choreography and performance | Joy Bernard
Movement consultation | Efrat Rubin

A performance following one woman’s attempt to heal.

Performed at:

Performances for Social Nearing, Tel-Aviv Artists’ Studios, December 2021 (curator: Hagai Ulrich)

Poalot Festival, Alfred Institute for Art and Culture, June 2022 (artistic directors: Revital Michali and Efrat Rubin)

Since the dawn of time, women have been socialized to take care of their surroundings – their parents as they age, their children and at times their romantic partners. In this work, I embark on a theatrical, psychological and movement-based journey in which I try to find out what happens when women rebel and decide to take care of themselves.

The journey begins with a dialogue with Sophie Calle, whose book - Je prends soin de moi – I read during a time of personal crisis. In her creation, Calle invited 107 different women to interpret a breakup letter she received from an ex over email. That letter was capped off with the words Prenez soin de vous, French for “Take care of yourself.”

I decided to turn that command into an autonomous declaration. I took care of myself by conducting a series of filmed and recorded meetings with my father, a psychoanalyst, and various female caretakers: A psychologist, a speech therapist, a hairdresser, a physical therapist and more. Heeding their mental and physical advice and diagnoses of my condition, I created a choreography of recovery. The women in the audience are invited to join me; together, we will try to phrase a manifesto dedicated to female liberation in a session that includes writing, dancing and singing.