Lena Gorlatova - director, Marina Dadychenko - dramaturg,
Yura Shipkov - designer
Yura Shipkov - designer
Marriage is one of life's significant rituals, and in Russia, it’s almost inevitable that every woman will, at some point, be asked by relatives, friends, or even strangers: "When will you get married? Have you found a husband yet?" In society, marriage and raising children are often viewed as the ultimate path to happiness for women. Yet, statistics reveal that 7 out of 10 marriages in Russia end in divorce, suggesting there’s something fundamentally flawed in this concept.
Marina and Lena responded to this with their participatory theater project, "Mating Dances." They began by interviewing seven women of varying marital statuses, followed by a month of workshops where participants shared their personal experiences of marriage, divorce, singlehood, and the choice to be childfree. These stories later became part of the performance. There were no actresses just ordinary women telling their stories from the first-person perspective.
The performance itself mimicked a traditional wedding celebration, with the audience playing the roles of "guests" and "relatives" of the couple. At one point, however, the bride disrupts the ceremony, and the women participants begin sharing their own stories of unwanted marriages, abusive relationships, joyful singlehood without children, and happy marriages.
Through this interactive experience, the participants and audience together challenged societal and patriarchal expectations surrounding women’s destinies and the definition of happiness.
The project was supported by The Youth Theater Center "Cosmos", Tyumen, Russia
