When the Bleeding Stops (IS)

Where: Høllin
Duration: 50 min.

What does it feel like when the body changes, and no one talks about it?

In the dance performance When the Bleeding Stops, Icelandic choreographer Lovísa Ósk Gunnarsdóttir confronts the silence and stigma surrounding menopause in Western society — and breaks it.

Following an injury five years ago, Lovísa was forced to reevaluate her relationship to dance and her body. This process opened her eyes to the silence surrounding menopause and her lack of knowledge about the subject. She began researching and sent out an open invitation to women going through menopause. Before long, she was working with a large group of women from across Icelandic society.

Several of these Icelandic women now perform in the production.

When the Bleeding Stops invites the audience into a vulnerable, honest, and humorous space, offering insight into the participants’ lives, homes, and experiences. The piece moves through shame, empathy, laughter, and tears — opening up a collective space where menopause is acknowledged and celebrated in all its complexity.

The performance premiered at the Reykjavík Dance Festival in 2021 and has since toured with great success. It has received glowing reviews, and the women involved in the project describe the experience as empowering and life-changing. When the Bleeding Stops was nominated for Most Innovative Performance of the Year at the Icelandic Theatre Awards, and Lovísa was selected as both an Aerowaves and a Crowd artist in 2023.

With this performance, Lovísa now tours internationally. Wherever she goes, she invites local women in menopause into her artistic universe — to share stories and movement, and to help build a wider movement to change the narrative around menopause in the Western world.

And naturally, this includes Faroese women in menopause, who are contributing to this performance at the Nordic House.

Concept, choreography & text: Lovísa Ósk Gunnarsdóttir
Sound & lighting design: Brett Smith
Video design: Lovísa Ósk Gunnarsdóttir & Brett Smith
Performers: Lovísa Ósk Gunnarsdóttir, Ólöf Ingólfsdóttir, Kristjana Stefánsdóttir, Sveinbjörg Þórhallsdóttir, and local women
Producer: StepTurnMove – Wim Casier

This performance is part of the performing arts festival VERK – Nordic Stage Days, supported by the Nordic Culture Fund.