Zus Performance, a performance art duo composed of Kira Alker and Elke Luyten specializing in the French theater technique of corporeal mime, visited Colgate University for three days the week of March 24.

They taught acting classes on Monday, March 24, and Tuesday, March 25, and also taught a masterclass on Wednesday, March 26. On March 25, they led “Artist Dialogue: Groundbreaking Perspectives,” an event that was intended to be a roundtable discussion among students, faculty and the artists themselves.

Alker acknowledged how the event was less of a dialogue between the artists and students and more of a presentation from her and Luyten to students due to time constraints.

“It’s been great to be able to share our work and teach some classes, but the time was so short that I also really want to learn from the students,” Alker said. “I really want there to be more of an exchange and a conversation that goes the other way.”

With the pair forming Zus Performance in 2003, Alker and Luyten’s work experiences have since ranged from creating art in a residency in Japan to choreographing David Bowie’s “Blackstar” music video.

Although Lutyen is from Belgium and Alker is from America, they both spent time in France learning corporeal mime from Thomas Leaphart. Leaphart’s teaching focuses on geometrically expressing the human body.

Zus Performance’s visit to Colgate was made possible by their connection to Professor of Theater Adrian Giurgea. When Alker and Luyten were students at Pomona College, Giurgea was Alker’s professor.

“I invited [Alker] and [Luyten] to Colgate to introduce our students to corporeal mime because I believe that corporeal mime occupies a distinct place at the intersection between theater and dance and because I believe that, ultimately, theater is dance and dance is theater,” Giurgea said. “Corporeal mime is an unending source of inspiration for the type of theater I teach.”

In Giurgea’s explanation of the historical context of performance art, he called attention to the difficulty of bringing performance art to an academic setting due to its risky nature.

“While performance art gained institutional recognition in the 1970s, there remains a gap between academic approaches and the full spectrum of experimental practice,” Giurgea said.

With this understanding that performance art pieces encompass taking risks, Alker commented on how exploring this creativity can lead to exclusion from artistic spaces.

“You’re not always included in that world for whatever reason; there’s a lot of competition,” Alker said. “Sometimes by not always being included when I was younger, it gave me space to think that I don’t always have to be part of the group.”

Even though they often chose paths where they could express more individuality, they still met the challenges of uncertainty over their careers.

“I think the most difficult part is sustainability and continuation because if I have chosen the path of not being part of an institution or not having teaching as my main focus, I’m kind of really financially and artistically dependent on offers and gigs,” Luyten said.

Luyten commented on how finding a place in an artistic family outweighed the importance of finding a place in an institution. This search for an artistic family then inspired the naming of their group, since the word “zus” comes from the Dutch word for “sister.”

“What I felt that I created over time is this idea of the artistic family, which is about where you belong and where you want to belong. Oftentimes, it’s about finding that a group of people do not want me in their artistic family,” Luyten said.

While what Alker and Luyten create may not necessarily fit within the confines of institutions such as academic ones, Giurgea emphasized the importance of how their work ultimately invites audiences to reflect on the human experience.

“Their performances create a profound connection with viewers by making their experiences real and relatable through the act of witnessing,” Giurgea said.

Luyten’s performance in particular of Marina Abramović’s “The House with the Ocean View” wrestled with the challenge of sacrifice in art. In both iterations, the artists survived without food for 12 days but with a water supply. Luyten was unsure of her ability to replicate the performance.

“During those three days, my second day was horrible, and I felt really bad. And I thought that I cannot perform this piece. I don’t see the value of performing this. This is too much suffering for something that is not really mine,” Luyten said.

Luyten observed how her undertaking of suffering connected with people who would watch her as audience members throughout the duration of the performance.

“We would have some energetic conversation, and oftentimes, there was so much crying involved. People would be bawling; I would be crying. It’s the most I’ve cried in my whole life. You would feel that inhumanity and that there’s so much suffering that we don’t talk about it,” Luyten said.

Giurgea’s belief that performance art, especially that of Alker and Luyten, invites audiences to reflect proves how its success is grounded in its ability to evoke empathy.

“This shared experience prompts essential reflection, “Giurgea said. “What would any of us do under similar circumstances?”