Chicago- Experience Innocence, Romance, Imprisonment and Freedom at the Chicago Fringe Festival presented by Italian artist Natalja Aicardi, a Chicago-based multi-disciplinary performing artist. Natalja presents The Selkie; a unique take on the universal legend which tells the story of magical creatures, known to be seals in water, who come onto land once in a blue moon, and take off their skin and become women dancing free.
Putting her soul story on stage, Natalja encourages authentic expression of the self to be empowered and to empower.
Date: Friday, September 8th at 10:00pm, Saturday, September 9th at 5:30pm, & Sunday, September 10th at 7:00pm
Venue: CCJP Meeting Hall, 5320 W. Giddings Avenue, 1st floor, Chicago, IL
Tickets: $10 General Admission, plus $5 one-time Fringe button for access to all Fringe shows
**Tickets available online at https://dime.io/events/the-selkie**
The Selkie is a unique, solo performance that combines physical theatre, singing, dancing, healing arts, inventing a new style of cabaret. Natalja wrote The Selkie script and recorded music and narration together with a dream team of renowned and versatile jazz musicians: Lara Driscoll (piano), Mark Sonsken (bass), Jeff Stitely
(drums), Lou Rugani (narrator) and Josh Richter (sound engineer). Natalja will feature three original songs by her very own grandfather, Vladimir Sambol, some evergreen tunes as well as contemporary pieces.
This is the story of the Selkie who once got her skin stolen and her long journey back to reclaim what she’s made of. Without her skin the woman becomes a doll and then a mere shadow of herself. Finally the voice inside her awakens her back to her true nature and empowers her to continue the journey towards freedom.
Discovering the archetypal myths in the legend, Natalja explores the many “selfs” that colive within each individual. She plays each self, the seal, the woman, the man, with wit and truth. Her costumes and set pieces become her scene partners in a minimal design that leaves space for the audience’s imagination.
About the Production
The Selkie had its debut at Davenport’s Piano Bar Cabaret in October 2016, which was welcomed there again in May 2017. After the three performances at the Chicago Fringe Festival, The Selkie will take off and have its international debut in PARIS, September 13 at Le Kibélé.
About the Artist
Natalja Aicardi is a dancer, singer, actor, choreographer, Reiki Healer, teacher and love-full mother of two. She has been performing on stages in the United States and Italy since 2000. Becoming a mother was the life force energy she needed to take on her artistic journey, slowly but surely. Her love for creating original works has brought her, after intensive training at the School of Theatre Creators, led by Paola Coletto, to dedicate her life to the performing arts while continuing to raise her two greatest creations, her children. Natalja is also a featured collaborator in the Chicago Paris Cabaret Connexion, which makes its debut exchange workshop in Paris this September. She proudly continues Jacque Lecoq’s theatre legacy and is ecstatic to premier her show, The Selkie, in Paris where Jacque Lecoq set his roots.
Thank you for the honor of being a part of the production, Natalja.