What happens when you truly show yourself, without armor, and still stand?
Existential courage is the courage to be fully who you are. Visible without guarantees or protection, while the world watches and judges. In full glory and at the front. It is a powerful place, but also the most vulnerable. Everyone can see it. Everyone can have an opinion about it.
To take this place requires balance between discipline, precision, inner calm, and self-control. These values of Bushidō form the dancers’ inner compass. They support the ability to take responsibility and shape the freedom and choices of their own life, even when this brings discomfort, uncertainty, or fear.
The performance explores the tension between vulnerability and strength.
Waacking and Martial Arts
Waacking originated in the 1970s in Los Angeles. It has its roots in the underground club scene in Hollywood, where the Latino and African American LGBTQ community celebrated ultimate freedom. The dance style has many sources of inspiration, such as silent films, the movements of Martial Arts, Bruce Lee’s nunchaku, the elegance of Marilyn Monroe, the comedy of Charlie Chaplin, and many more.
Many movements can be traced directly back to their sources of inspiration, such as certain arm movements derived from the nunchaku, Zorro’s cape, or Marilyn Monroe’s poses. The movements of various martial arts once formed the foundation of the Waacking dance style as we know it today. The performance BUSHIDŌ uses this dance style as well as movements from nunchaku and karate. It is a combination of today’s style and the inspirations of the past.
Credits
Concept and choreography: Nina Dumoulin | Dancers: Shahin Damka, Lorena Valenzuela, Vanildo Varela, Nina Dumoulin | Nunchaku sensei: Joris van den Berg | Karate sensei: Shotokan Karate Utrecht | Artistic coaching: Andrey “Drosha” Grekhov | Music producer: Dizzi Geetha | Lighting designer: TBA | Production manager: Jockey-Mary Latukolan | Photography and videography: Sjoerd Derine | Thanks to: Gemeente Utrecht, Fonds Podiumkunsten, Cultuurfonds, Fentener van Vlissingen Fonds, K.F. Hein Fonds, Theater Kikker, Stichting het Wilde Westen, Stichting Sample Cultur