
EXODUS
Exodus challenges the stereotypical figure of the graceful-princess ballerina, transforming her into a warrior and raising questions about the role of the “feminine” and what lies underneath elegance.
As it very often happens in real life, the heroine of Nex(od)us is filled initially with self-
doubt about her competence in her new journey as a warrior. Is she a ballerina or a warrior? Is self-doubt the real problem? What is her true potential? Using a combination of traditional ballet vocabulary, wu-shu and hand weapons from martial arts, Exodus uncovers the hidden power of the elegant balletic style, and depicts symbolically how sensitivity can extend into strength.
The underlying idea of the piece is that every person has a masculine and feminine side (in Carl Jung’s terms, the “anima” is the feminine within a man and “animus” the masculine within a woman), and that completion can only be achieved when these two sides coexist in balance.
Throughout history, both the position of women in society and the concept of femininity within men has been undervalued and suppressed; women are today the subject of violent abuse and both men and women suffer at both a personal and a collective level as a result. As an artist, I feel that it is important to challenge this naïve concept of power, that misinterprets the essence of masculine and feminine.