Feminalz, a collective of ‘transgender entities,’ established in 2013 by Emanat Institute, is a unique endeavour in the Slovenian landscape as their techno-burlesque performance Image Snatchers (Tatovi podob) has, with its more than decade-long existence, probably the longest life span in the sector, attracting a wide-ranging audience. Feminalz are pushing the boundaries of normative social roles and forms such as femininity, masculinity, family dynamics, machismo, etc., to oppose principles of political correctness and maintain the terrain of sharp social critique in the form of contemporary burlesque and cabaret. Their performances are based on humour and irony and their members represent a range of inventive fictional transgender characters, playfully exposing them in short acts and even more in their singular performances from the Image Snatchers Present (Tatovi podob predstavljajo) series. The performances of Image Snatchers are not fixed, and neither are the Feminalz members. In addition, individuals and the group continuously create new performative acts, bringing in different perspectives through the combinations of acts and their binding texts to keep the performance in f lux. Furthermore, the fluctuation of its members does not weaken the collective or the performances, but on the contrary brings in surprising new elements, which is the result of occasional new blood and the crews’ reaction toward sociopolitical actualities, or their reflection on more intimate, yet structural topics of gender and sexualities, always spiced up with iconic pop songs.
From Nika Arhar, Jasmina Založnik (ed.), Bodies of Dance, Aspects of Dance as Cultural, Political, and Art Work in Yugoslavia and After (Belgrade, 2024)
