FEDORA - First Edition of FEDORA x Versopolis Poems of FEDORA Prize-winning productions

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First Edition of FEDORA x Versopolis Poems of FEDORA Prize-winning productions

FEDORA's Activities

In this special podcast series, produced with our partner Versopolis, poets from the Versopolis network respond to premieres of works we have awarded a FEDORA Prize. Each invited poet attends the performance as an audience member, taking in the production, the artistic process behind it, and the atmosphere of the premiere, and then writes a poem about the experience.

Gentleman Jack, winner of our FEDORA – VAN CLEEF & ARPELS Dance Prize 2025, premiered in May 2026. Its prima ballerina, Gemma Coutts, dances Anne Lister, the 19th-century entrepreneur often called Gentleman Jack and now regarded as the world's first modern lesbian icon. In the audience at the London premiere was Ruth Lasters, the current Poet Laureate of Belgium, who wrote a poem in response to the work.

In this episode, we talk with both artists about why a ballet inspired by the unconventional Anne Lister matters today, and how themes of identity echo across the centuries. Why does loving mean losing all self-deceit? What happens when Lister's hat falls from her head in the middle of rehearsals, and why does it turn to glass in the poem?

Ruth Lasters is an award-winning Belgian poet and novelist. Her debut novel, Poolijs/Polar Ice, won the Flemish Debut Prize in 2007. Her poetry collections include Vouwplannen/Folding Plans, Lichtmeters/Light Meters, and Tijgerbrood/Tiger Bread, which received several major poetry awards. Her work has been translated into German, Spanish and French, most recently as Désirs à l'essai/Trial Desires (2026). She has performed internationally at festivals including Poetry International. In 2022, she resigned as City Poet of Antwerp after the city rejected a poem addressing educational discrimination, an act that earned her the Ark Prize of Free Speech in 2023. In 2026, she became Poet Laureate of Belgium.

Gemma Coutts is a ballerina from New Zealand who grew up in Thailand, where she trained at the Aree School of Dance Arts in Bangkok. She continued her training in London and graduated from the English National Ballet School. Now in her fifth season at Northern Ballet, she has danced a range of corps and soloist roles that have broadened her artistry and confidence. She was the principal ballerina in Gentleman Jack, which premiered in May 2026 and won the FEDORA – VAN CLEEF & ARPELS Dance Prize 2025.