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.

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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.

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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.

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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.