Shield Is a Weapon

In a world that is portrayed as dangerous, processes of protective shielding are inextricably linked to our everyday lives. When simplified narrative replaces differentiated discourse, contradictory perspectives are quickly misunderstood as an attack. Shields, walls, gates, and borders are erected to separate and protect the inside from the potentially threatening outside.
In the solo Shield is a Weapon, the boundary between inside and outside, between the self and the other is choreographically explored through movement, vocal soundscapes, and text. The mouth becomes both a shield and a gate, which, once opened, speaks in many tongues and expresses the polyphony of the individual subject.

What otherness is at work within me? Which invasive voices do I host? Who guards my throat?

In this piece, choreographer and performer Liza Baliasnaja continues her ongoing exploration of how emotions such as fear and disgust shape our political imagination. This time, the focus is on the symbol of the shield, which offers protection while simultaneously indicating impending conflict. The work examines the ambivalent interplay of vulnerability and aggression, of concealment and confrontation. Through the change of perspective, sometimes behind, sometimes in front of the shield, the work reflects on topics such as polarization, (self-)censorship and politics of defence.

Liza Baliasnaja (she/her, b. 1994) is a choreographer and performer from Lithuania, based in Germany/Cologne, working internationally.

Over the past decade, she has developed a choreographic approach that integrates movement research, voice, and writing. She is interested in how power and violence take shape through language, history, and politics. Since 2023, in response to the geopolitical crisis in the Baltic region and the growing influence of right-wing populism in Germany, her work explores how fear and disgust affect individual and collective bodies.

In 2016 she graduated from the P.A.R.T.S. Training Cycle in Brussels and in 2022 completed a BA in Philosophy at the University of KU Leuven.

Her works have been presented in Lithuania, Germany, and Belgium. Some of the significant venues include De Singel (BE), Tanzhaus NRW (DE), Tanzfaktur (DE), Kunstencentrum BUDA (BE), Kaaistudios (BE), Museum of Modern Art (LT), Lithuanian National Gallery of Art (LT), and festivals New Baltic Dance (LT), Nachtsicht (DE), Favoriten (DE), Contempo (LT), Tanz.Tausch (DE), among others.

Her performance practice is shaped by collaborations with artists such as Eszter Salamon, Christine De Smedt, Lenio Kaklea, Lina Lapelytė, Ula Sickle, DD Dorvillier, and Mårten Spångberg, among many others.

Her two latest works Chiaroscuro (2024) and Shield is a Weapon (2025) were nominated for the Lithuanian Theatre Award. She is a recipient of the Young Artist Award from the Lithuanian Ministry of Culture.

Shield is a Weapon was produced by Liza Baliasnaja, in co-production with Tanzhaus nrw and Tanzfaktur Köln. Funded by Kunststiftung NRW, Ministry of Culture and Science of the State of NRW, NRW Landesbüro Freie Darstellende Künste.