Yel K. Banto

IDA, short movie, 7.30min. School of New Dance Development (SNDO),
Amsterdam, September 2025

IDA is a poetic statement on love in all its forms, offering a feminist and queer lens on togetherness and tenderness. It is both an ode to Gertrude Stein’s novel Ida and an echo of Björk’s song All Is Full of Love. The film presents a series of duos and deliberately emphasises the act of coming together. Ida is an invitation to reflect on love as a multifaceted entity that connects us to our ancestors, family, friends and partner(s).

Direction:
Yel K. Banto

Starring:
Yevheniya Kravets, Sofiia Butiaga, Christina Eckert,
Janette Almeida Eckert, snails

Sound:
Among Angels - Kate Bush,
Alterations - Yel K. Banto,
Liquorice - Mica Levi

Mentors:
Marta Popivoda, Ward Ten Voorde

Production:
SNDO - Choreography, Academy of Theatre and Dance

Special thanks:
Fecho Rimon, Yadhira De Leon Matos, Marley Meijer, Jeroen Fabius,
Harco Haagsma, Yadin Bernauer and my dearest SNDO cuties

Under Lilies’ Breath, performance, 15min. School of New Dance Development (SNDO), Amsterdam, June 2025

Under Lilies’ Breath slides the audience into a lush, multi-sensory domestic playground. Wandering through a system designed to be challenged, the audience chooses where to look and what to follow. Rooted in the tension between intuition and structure, the work defies its own frame, celebrates sensuality, and blurs the lines between realness, fantasy, and freedom. Here, warmth operates as a core synaesthetic principle that pollinates and infuses the choreography, imagery, scent and soundscape.

Under one’s breath. Almost inaudible.
Nine of Pentacles. Time to harvest and savour the fruits of our labour.
Summertime. Barefoot on a silk carpet.
Summer wine. An accident…

Choreography: Yel K. Banto
Talents: Yadin Bernauer, Jozef Chua, Jeka Kravets
Artistic adviser: Soraya Lutangu Bonaventure
Sound composition: Yel K. Banto
Contributors: Merle Havas (Bass guitar)
Special thanks: Nayo Sauter, Aidan/Nadia Bay, Fernando Belfiore,
Roan Lo-a-Njoe, Sébastien Roussi, and my dearest SNDO cuties

© Filming: Gergely László Ofner, editing: Yel K. Banto

Cats and Dogs, performance, 15min. School of New Dance Development (SNDO),
Amsterdam, December 2024

Performers: Victor Conto, Yadin Bernauer, Yel K. Banto, Yevheniya Kravets
Direction: Yel K. Banto

© Filming: Thalia Livingstone, editing: Yel K. Banto

The Fool’s Fugue, dance piece, 15min, Théâtre de Sévelin 36,
Lausanne, November 2024

The fool's fugue is a medieval flashback, a projection into my tarot cards, it's my teenage fantasy. I pack a bundle with what I have on hand, put in what I hold most close to my heart, and, light as a feather, I walk following the dawn. I had to leave... Oh, a flower! I carry on. It's time. I run away, turn away, far away. I just ride." Yel K. Banto

Choreography and performance: Yel K. Banto
Sound composition: Hugo Landage
Acknowledgements: Tristan Bartolini, Sébastien Roussi, Yevhienya Kravets
Outside Eye: Sonja Jokiniemi

© Filming and editing: Anouk Maupu

Treasured remains, sculpted oak, assembled textiles, series of four bundles, 60 x 35 x 60cm each, Espace Arlaud, Lausanne, September 2024

Treasured remains: DAWN, long-durational performance, 4 hours, Espace Arlaud, Lausanne 2024

The exhibition Seins à Dessein was organised by Fondation Francine Delacretaz to raise funds in aid of people affected by breast cancer.

"Like a mysterious apparition, Yel K. Banto wanders through the exhibition room, roaming freely, making the environment their own and letting their body express itself with the only music being the creaking of the Espace Arlaud's wooden floor and the clatter of their handmade wooden heels on the stone floor.

Wooden marottes hung on the wall and were adorned with bundles of different appearances. Symbols of our emotional baggage and our precious personal experiences that help us to move forward, they also evoke the major arcana ‘The Fool’ in the Tarot deck. This card, which has no number and is sometimes assigned the number zero, embodies the idea of a cycle, a state of transition, and constant transformation. Considered the first card of the Tarot, it symbolises an initiating energy and a certain naivety that allow us to move forward."

No saliva left to spit, glazed clay, 25 x 35 x 35cm, Galerie Fabienne Levy, July 2024

Revenge, 20 min. with Sébée Roussi, Théâtre de l'Usine, May 2023

"It's a story about an unexpected encounter between a dog and a bitch. In the form of a talk show, Yel and Sebée bring an intimate story, as banal as it is violent, to the public space. Conjuring up fear and aggression through laughter, screaming and running, Revenge invites each spectator to be a witness and agent of a necessary transformation." Sébée Roussi, Yel K. Banto

Performing Myself, installation of works in various mediums, HEAD - Geneva, June 2023

Performing Myself is an installation that combines works of several different mediums. However, two elements stand out: the wall reminiscent of a theatre set and the gargoyle-shaped fountain. In this project, Yel K. Banto explores questions of intimacy and constant performativity while playfully layering multiple semantic levels to create a complex interpretation system.

Last picture from left to right:

Performing myself, mdf boards, pine logs, Q3 paint, wooden beams,
100 x 450 x 300 cm, 2023
Doggy on all fours, blown glass by Open Glass Studio and oxidised steel, 20 x 60 x 40cm, 2023
Head over High Heels, burned pine, 120 x 30 x 30 cm, 2022
Naked corporate men with a twist, prints of digital photo montages, 18 x 24cm, 2023
Just passing by..., acrylic paint on wooden board, 80 x 100 cm, 2023
Playbow, acrylic paint on wooden board, 70 x 80 cm, 2023
No saliva left to spit, glazed clay, glass, oxidised steel, water, xanthan gum,
peristaltic pump, 25 x 35 x 35xm, 2023
Aaah in Silence, video, 1:00min, second version, 2023
Up your ass, one piece of a series of ceramics, glazed clay, 40 x 60cm, 2023
Always there, even when you don’t want it to be, leather, brass, 15 x 15 x 5cm, 2023
Remains of The Birth, fabrics sawed together, 15 x 4,5m, 2022
Fool’s era, sculpted elm wood, 13 x 5 x 120cm, 2023

© Pictures: Yel K. Banto

Averse, video, 11:45 minutes, HEAD - Geneva, June 2023

Blue Velvet is a video that combines narrative writings with various edited sky shots filmed in 2020 and 2023.

Technical needs: The video must be projected in a darkened room where the only light source is the video itself.

© Filming and editing: Yel K. Banto

Barking Dogs, installation of two paintings, a sprayed text and a sculpture,
HEAD - Geneva, January 2023

Just passing by..., (first painting from the left), acrylic paint on found wooden board,

80 x 100 cm, 2023
Playbow, (second painting from the left), acrylic paint on found wooden board,

70 x 80 cm, 2023
FOOL M’4VÉ WOOF, FOOL M’4VÉ MERDYÉ, sprayed acrylic on the wall,

140 x 210 cm
Head over High Heels, sculpture, burned pine wood,

2x 120 x 30 x 11 cm, 2022

© Pictures: Yel K. Banto

Barking Dogs, dance research in progress, 15 minutes, Art’s Birthday 2023, commissioned by RTS Culture, Contrechamps and HEAD - Geneva, Les 6 Toits, Geneva, January 2023

Barking Dogs is a work that explores through sound and choreography the moment that follows the stupor in front of violence.

Technical needs: 4 speakers, 1 sub, 1 usb audio interface with 5 analogue output jacks, 2 bitalino riot, 1 3g/4g router.

© Filming and editing: Yel K. Banto

...WITH TWO "L", self-printed essay, 394 pages, 2022

...WITH TWO "L" is an essay I wrote for my Fine Arts Bachelor graduation project. It's a sculptural book with a textured cover where the words are choreographed through the pages. Therefore, I highly recommend reading it on paper. Let me know if you are interested in reading it. yel.k.banto@gmail.com.

Otherwise,

Click here to view the PDF

This essay is an investigation of my inability to shout, a blockage that I have experienced for a long time, and that became a problem when I needed help. As I was practising and exploring shouting exercises in a soundproof room, I documented my daily life, my concerns, my transition as a non-binary young adult, and the unfolding of what was hidden behind the inability of shouting.

Aaaah in silence, video on loop, 1:30 minutes, November 2022

© Filming: Elisa Wyss, editing: Yel K. Banto

When The Curtain Falls, video clip, 10:44min, collective exhibition "C'era una volta la Pangea" curated by Associazione +41, Balerna, October 2021

When The Curtain Falls, sculpture, 4m x 18m x 4m, collective exhibition "C'era una volta la Pangea" curated by Associazione +41, Balerna, October 2021

© Pictures: Yel K. Banto

Unnamed for the Moment, foundation year graduation project consisting of 5 auto-interactive installations, ECAL, Lausanne 2020

© Pictures: Yel K. Banto

Unnamed for the Moment, foundation year graduation project consisting of 5 auto-interactive installations, ECAL, Lausanne 2020

© Filming and editing: Yel K. Banto