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Photos - Fred Debrock

There are some subjects about which people have an almost morbid fascination. It is the hidden, the taboo and the deviances from the norm that spark the imagination and foster unutterable questions. It is not often that we get these queries answered and at the premiere of Vanessa Van Durme’s Look Mummy, I’m Dancing the collective thought of the audience was almost audible. ‘Yes, but how does it all work… down there?’

Look Mummy, I’m Dancing is a one woman monologue chronicling the life of Belgian transsexual Vanessa Van Durme. Vanessa underwent her gender reassignment surgery in Morocco in 1975, years before it was more widely accessible. It is a frank and moving story that demystifies the subject of transsexualism, without resorting to exploitation.

Vanessa’s extraordinary story doesn’t contain the kind of angst one would expect, it is calm and centred, like its subject herself. Vanessa is a woman who is completely sure of herself and her identity. She switches between the role of narrator and storyteller, embodying the characters of her parents, herself as a child and the various other individuals involved in her story.

Told simply and openly, the audience eagerly absorbed the more gory details of Vanessa’s life, of which she was candid about recounting. The emotional range of the performance was astonishing as Vanessa didn’t let the narrative wallow too much in pathos before snatching it back with her impeccable comic timing. A feat made all the more impressive by the fact that she has performed the monologue in four languages all across the globe.

One criticism of the work is that it perhaps stalls too long in Vanessa’s early life. There were many elements of her story of which we received just a tantalising glimpse. A sixteen year marriage was skimmed over in three sentences and Vanessa’s later life was left largely untouched. The inclusion of these details would have shed a little more light on Vanessa’s specific (and vastly interesting) life as a whole. The experiences and feelings of transgendered individuals in early years are often similar. Dressing in drag, playing with the ‘wrong’ toys and the feeling of being at odds with your physical body are commonly shared behaviours. What makes Vanessa’s story so unique is perhaps the era and the country it occurred in. And the fact that she’s now here onstage, a beautiful and charismatic lady, telling it to us herself.

Look Mummy, I’m Dancing is in large part an exploration of Vanessa’s relationship with her parents and at times acts as a sort of tribute to them. During the more poignant set pieces Vanessa became overwhelmed with emotion. This wasn’t self indulgent however, but displayed Vanessa’s deep connection to the pain of her story, a pain that is still keenly felt, even after all these years.

Look Mummy, I’m Dancing is a plea for tolerance and acceptance of all people, an acceptance that Vanessa strived her whole life to find within herself.


Look Mummy, I'm Dancing
Written & Performed by Vanessa Van Durme

Director Frank Van Laecke

Venue: the Arts Centre, Fairfax Studio
Dates: Tue 13 – Sat 17 Oct at 7.45pm
Matinee: Sat 17 Oct at 2pm (Audio Described)
Duration: 1hr 25min no interval
www.fransbrood.com
www.melbournefestival.com.au