SHE WHO STAYS

Choreographer/dancer: Milena Ugren Koulas

Music/musician: George Koulas

Light design: Aleksandar Jotovic

Costumes: Ase Lasarou

Supported by: Ministarstvo kulture Kraljevine Cipar / Cyprus Ministry of Culture and Education

She Who Stays. This peace is inspired by the woman that had to become a man. Albanian sworn virgins are women who take a vow of chastity and wear male clothing in order to live as men in the patriarchal northern Albanian society. The practice exists, or has existed, in other parts of the western Balkans, including Kosovo, Macedonia, Serbia, Montenegro, Dalmatia and Bosnia. The tradition of sworn virgins developed out of the Kanun set of codes and laws developed by Lekë Dukagijini and used mostly in northern Albania and Kosovo from 15th to 20th century. The Kanun is not a religious document - many groups follow it including Roman Catholic, Orthodox and Muslims. According to Kanun laws, women are treated like property of the family and are deprived of many human rights, they are almost equal to an animal. The Kanun says: A woman is a sack made to endure.

Dancer/choreographer Milena Ugren Koulas and musician George Koulas have been collaborating for last 8 years. They presented their work in different venues in Cyprus and abroad. In 2007 the piece “While Walking” received a prize from New Europe Festival in Prague, Czech Republic. In 2012 choreography “House of Heaven II” was nominated in International Choreographic Competitions in Hanover and “No-Ballet” in Ludwigshaven, Germany.