BUSHIDŌ - Nina Dumoulin

Existential courage is the courage to be fully who you are.

Visible without guarantees or protection, whilst the world watches and judges. In all your glory and right at the forefront. This is a powerful place, but at the same time the most vulnerable. Everyone can see it. Everyone can have an opinion about it.

To occupy this space, a balance is needed between discipline, precision, inner calm and self-control. These values of bushidō form the dancers’ inner compass. It underpins the ability to shape the freedom and choices of one’s own existence, even when this brings with it discomfort, uncertainty and fear.

The performance explores the tension between vulnerability and strength. What happens when you truly reveal yourself, without armour, and yet remain standing?

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 communities celebrated the utmost freedom. The dance style draws on many sources of inspiration, such as silent films, the movements of martial arts, Bruce Lee’s nunchaku, the grace of Marilyn Monroe, the comedy of Charlie Chaplin and much more. Many movements can be traced directly back to their source of inspiration, such as certain arm movements from the nunchaku, Zorro’s cape or Marilyn Monroe’s poses. The movements of various martial arts once formed the basis of the Waacking dance style as we know it today. The performance BUSHIDŌ draws on this dance style and the movements of nunchaku and karate. It is a combination of the style of today and the source of inspiration from the past.

Creator

Nina Dumoulin (1992) is an all-round urban dancer, choreographer, teacher and theatre maker from Utrecht. Her dance career began in the hip-hop scene in Maastricht. From there, she developed through international training to become an all-round self-taught urban dancer specialising in Waacking. Since 2019, Nina has been creating dance performances that have been staged both nationally and internationally.

For Nina, dance is storytelling. Choreography is the language and Waacking is the accent she uses most often. Through her performances, she aims to push the boundaries. She does this through the stories she tells, the concepts she employs and the collaborations she undertakes with other art and cultural forms. Her creative signature as a creator is recognisable in the themes that are translated onto the dance floor in an abstract, yet highly visual and explosive way, through precision, emotion and imagination.

Team

• 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 editing & sound design: Dizzi Geetha
• Lighting designer: Huib van Amstel
• Production manager: Jockey-Mary Latukolan
• Photography and videography: Sjoerd Derine
• Special thanks to: Utrecht City Council, the Performing Arts Fund, the Culture Fund, the Fentener van Vlissingen Fund, the K.F. Hein Fund, Theater Kikker, the Wilde Westen Foundation, and the Sample Culture Foundation.