Daniel Mariblanca is the first transgender person included in Carte Blanche, The Norwegian National Company of Contemporary Dance. He is also initiator of 71BODIES, a trans-inclusive multidisciplinary company and project. Their work In First Person is a series of portraits of ‘life’ from a transgendered perspective.

Made by Andreas Foldberg, 34 years old, a freelance journalist, bonus dad, and queer astronaut in a cisgendered atmosphere. He is also a friend of Karmaklubb*. As a ‘pandemic initiative’ he converse with artists and others that are part of the Karmaklubb* programming. First stop is Daniel Mariblanca and the 71BODIES. The feature was made in Bergen during their rehearsing for In First Person: The House [Digital] during the first weekend of August 2020.

Preface by Andreas Foldberg, in Danish
Daniel Mariblanca er den første transkønnede kunstner som er optaget i Carte Blanche, The Norwegian National Company of Contemporary Dance. Han er desuden initiativtager til 71BODIES, der er et transinkluderende danse- og performancekompagni. Det aktuelle projekt In First Person handler om livet beskrevet fra et transkønnet perspektiv.

Minidokuen er lavet af Andreas Foldberg, 34 år, freelance journalist og bruger af Karmaklubb*. Som et pandemisk initiativ er han taget ud til kunstere og andre, der deltager i Karmaklubbs* program for at høre, hvordan det går med det de går og laver. Første stop er et besøg hos Daniel Mariblanca og 71BODIES. Indslaget er optaget i Bergen under forberedelserne til In First Person: The House [Digital], den første weekend i august 2020.

In First Person: The House [Digital] was a ten-day live event 4–8 and 11–15 August 2020 streamed from different locations in and around Bergen, every day from 19:00 to 20:00 CET. Through dance, performance, film, and personal stories created and performed by a cast of ten transgender protagonists, the project aims to give space and visibility to personal transgender experiences by elaborate and deepen the discussions about gender identity, collective transgender history, and social norms.

The project is initiated by Bergen based performer Daniel Mariblanca in collaboration with filmmaker Ursula Kaufmann and starring Barry de Bruin (NLD), Bart Bloem (SWE), Christer André Gudmundsdottir (NOR), Isak Bradley (NOR), Joakim Eide (NOR), Judith Juanhuix (CAT), Koyote Millar (GBR/NOR), Silje-Håvard Bolstad (NOR), and Tonje Havstad (NOR). Produced by 71BODIES in collaboration with ↗︎ Bergen Kjøtt, ↗︎ BIT Teatergarasjen, ↗︎ Carte Blanche, Karmaklubb*, ↗︎ KRAFT, ↗︎ Kunsthall 3,14, ↗︎ Wrap, and the ↗︎ What You See Festival, an international art event on gender and identity in the Netherlands. Supported by a wide range of partners, full list ↗︎ here.

In First Person consists of three singular pieces that function apart while simultaneously creating one coherent work: The House [Digital], The Festival, and The Dance. A further presentation of ↗︎ The House [Digital] ↗︎ and the protagonists here. General info on the beauty of ↗︎ 71BODIES — click here.

This feature is of course authorised by Daniel Mariblanca, 71BODIES. It was also broadcasted at our collaborator RadiOrakel (NOR) — probably the world’s oldest feminst radio — 10 and 12 August 2020.

‘[T]his is how I want to talk about trans; the possibility and potentiality of creating another sense of beauty. […] “I was born in a society that told me my body was wrong. […] I was born in a society that told me how to walk, how to sit, how to smile, how to be, how to shit, how to wake up, have to make out, how to behave, what to obey, how to love, how to fuck, how to cry, and so on and so on. It is pretty much about how gender as a social construction repress everyone. […] Because everyone has a gender. So, even if you agree with your birth assignment […] you will [be able to] feel some type of friction [when it comes to] expectations.’