Elizabeth (Lisi) Estaras (°1971) started dancing in Cordoba (Arg.). In 1991 she leaves Argentina to study at the Rubin Academy of Music and Dance in Jerusalem and starts dancing with Batsheva Ensemble (Tel Aviv). She leaves Israel after a few years and comes to Europe to join les ballets C de la B in 1997.
She creates and dances Iets op Bach, Wolf, vsprs, Pitié!, C(H)ŒURS and Tauberbach by Alain Platel, and Tempus Fugit by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui. She is part of the pedagogical project and gives workshops and master classes at home and abroad. In April 2018, she creates Sacre du Printemps with Alain Platel and Quan Bui Ngoc for the Day of Dance 2018: more than 200 people dance together in the streets of Ghent. In 2019, Lisi makes a Sacre for the Teatro Calderòn in Valladolid as well.
Over the years she has danced in performances by others and created her own work: Bartime with Einat Tuchman (Campo), Cocina Erotica, No Wonder & Hillbrowfication with Constanza Macras (Schaubühne & Gorki Theater, Berlin), Leche (Passerelle) and A distancia (Teatro Real, Cordoba). At les ballets C de la B she creates Patchagonia, Bolero, The Gaza Monologues and Dans Dans, in co-production with het Kip.
Lisi also makes choreographies for other directors. For example, she worked on Hiob by Sandra Strunz (Theater Bonn), Das Brennende Haus by Emilio Garcia Wehbi and Maricel Alvarez (Theater Bern), Orlando (Teatro San Martin Buenos Aires) and The Hamilton Complex by Lies Pauwels (production HETPALEIS / production of the German version Schauspielhaus Bochum).
In 2015, together with choreographer Ayelen Parolin, she creates the solo La Esclava (La Biennale de Charleroi, Les Brigittines, Centre Wallonie-Bruxelles (Paris), Le Gymnase (Roubaix), Julidans (Amsterdam), On marche! (Marrakech), Stuk, Festival Actoral (Paris-Marseille), etc.
In 2016 she creates the performance Monkey Mind at Platform K, with three dancers with Down’s Syndrome. The same year Lisi creates The speech for dancer Irene Russolillo (Price Festival Equilibrium, Rome) and with Benny Claessens she creates his On learning how to walk for NTGent. In 2017 the performance Monkey Mind will tour in Belgium and abroad. This creation is a key element in her career.
Thanks to a short-term grant Lisi can deepen her Monkey Mind method and the end point of that research is the one-time performance MonkeyMind Feest! during the Dansand festival in Ostend.
Together with Sara Vanderieck, Mirko Banovic and Kristien De Proost, Lisi creates and performs When I look at a Strawberry, I Think of a Tongue at the Chambres d’O festival in early 2018, a project that continues ever since with residencies at WP Zimmer, Le Gymnase, Le Centquatre and Le BAMP.
That same year in Johannesburg Hillbrowfication premieres as well as Sapiensrabia, a creation for the Ballet Contemporaneo Teatro San Martin (Arg.). In the autumn Lisi creates another dance performance for Passerelle: D- Effect, with 3 young people, 2 dancers with Down Syndrome and a double bass player.
Early 2019 sees the creation of The Jewish Connection Project in collaboration with Ido Batash (premiere at Campo Gent 14/2/2019).
For the Day of Dance 2019, commissioned by De Grote Post, Lisi creates together with Darryl E. Woods Ze zullen ons niet temmen, a group choreography on a new interpretation of the Flemish national anthem by Wannes Cappelle.
Commissioned by the Salzburg Experimental Academy of Dance, she creates the performance No Woman No Cry for their dance ensemble in May 2019. SEAD invites Lisi again in autumn 2020 for a short creation with the final year students of the academy.
In the 2nd half of 2019, Lisi will make three months available for reflection and deeper research around the monkey-mind method she developed and the ‘danse brut’, which was reflected in her latest creation together with Ido Batash and Sonico Ensemble, SONICO – The Heart Is the Muscle We Like to Work Out (premiere De Grote Post, Ostend 05/03/2020).
During the academic year 2021/2022 Lisi will work on her research project Art Brut, Dance and disabilities within the Antwerp Royal Conservatory – AP.