Giedrė Kirkilė – Dowry

In her solo movement performance ‘Kraitis’, choreographer and dancer Giedrė Kirkilė explores human identity formation and transformation. Today, we no longer accumulate material dowries – we don’t embroider lacy nightgowns for the first night, nor weave tablecloths or bedspreads. However, consciously or unconsciously, we collect values, attitudes, beliefs, and behavioural patterns that confine us to various roles and expectations. We bring this ‘invisible dowry’ into our independent adult life, and it becomes part of who we are. Some aspects help us be the best version of ourselves and build lasting relationships, while others hold us back.

How much of our identity forms on its own, and how much can we actively shape and reshape it?

Searching for answers to these questions, the artist employs yarn and knitting as metaphors. A heavy garment knitted from thick threads, covering the artist’s face and body, becomes a symbol of our beliefs and values – an ‘armour’ that both protects and constrains us.

I’ve knitted and knotted, threaded and twisted.
Others taught me, and I learned, willingly or unconsciously.
To get tangled up, to get knitted.
To unravel and untie, to wash, to untangle and sort out.
To knit up anew.
Each time I reknit the same armour, I repeat the same pattern, again and again. Faster, more efficiently, but it’s always just as uncomfortable.
Because I know how to crochet a pretty doily and how to feel constantly inadequate, I know how to knit and take on all tasks, I know how to sew and lose myself in others.
How do I recreate my dowry?