She waits until she is 18. She waits until she gets eaten. She wishes for approval from boys. She craves approval from boys. She even shaved...everywhere. She does everything how she is supposed to. She is perfect. She needs to get eaten by a boy, it is her purpose.

There is nothing more in the world that the duck wants more than for a boy to eat her. The ducks at the pond have taught her the ways of getting a boy to eat her and how she should present herself so that the boys will choose her. Through her journey to find a boy to eat her she goes through many emotions that affect everyone in the pond. A performance dance solo that blurs the line between womanhood and duckhood. Was this what she wanted for so long? Was it worth it?

Birta Ásmundsdóttir is an Icelandic dancer and choreographer. Her main interests are using femininity as a tool to connect with the audience, through choreography and vulnerability. Birta graduated with a BA degree in dance and choreography from the Icelandic University of Arts in spring 2022. Since then she has performed her piece “birta” at Reykjavík Dance Festival in 2022, as well as worked as a movement director and choreographer in various projects shown in Tjarnarbíó and the Reykjavík City Theatre. Recently, Birta has primarily been working in residencies and projects abroad, in collaboration and by herself. For her newest work “when a duck turns 18 a boy will eat her” she had the privilege of doing the research in Kjarvalsstofa in Paris as well as develop the idea further in a residency in Lithuania, a dramaturgy workshop in Cyprus and finalising the piece in Dansverkstæðið in Reykjavík.

Dancer and choreographer: Birta Ásmundsdóttir

Sounddesign and music: Atli Snær Ásmundsson

Light design: Cristina Agueda

Photos: Owen Fiene