Children of Zeus
“Mythical whispers of the inner wounded.”
What You See Festival - Karin Jonkers
Ultimately, Children of Zeus is an intuitive journey as Living Exhibition. An embodied call towards a more fluid future through a queer perspective. Questioning relations between nature, the body and spirituality. While being surrounded by western technological culture.
Dance artist Robbeduz (they/them) and visual artist Valentina Gal (she/her) created a water landscape as scenography, intertwined with the body through sculptures. Here ecological processes are integrated by recycling and sustainable materials. This collaboration started from the shared interest towards the fluid metaphors and connotations water brings.
A swamp, a toxic and healing landscape, reorganizing the balance between nature and self. Sometimes soft, often radical. Stillness is shaping new visions. Old paradigms dissolve and new cycles will start to birth. Queer performers are rediscovering the empowering and healing properties of water, in search for liberation of self and other. Through friction ancestral blockages, which Zeus passed on to his children, are broken down.
Will the Children’s transformation bring the fluid future they manifest for?
“Listen to the forgotten melodies.
Rebellious children are guided by the wind,
dancing, completely trustworthy to natures rhythm,
in the midst of chaos and unknown forces.
They look into the waters reflection as a mirror and see themselves.
The wild and wounded body is remembered and embraced,
from there they recreate their own world.”
The premiere of Children of Zeus will take place in May 2026 at Bellevue, Amsterdam. But first, creators Robbeduz and Valentina Gal will return to the studio, where they will merge different research projects into a full-length performance (as living exhibition). During the residency in 2025, Robbeduz was able to explore dance material and its connection to the sculptures. During residencies followed up, an initial version of the installation with water was tested. This will now be further explored during residencies at ICK Amsterdam and RIGHTABOUTNOW INC Amsterdam.
Credits
Artiest (initiator), dansmaker, productie
Robbeduz (Robin Nimanong)
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/robbeduz/
Website: www.nimanong.com
DOX: https://wijzijndox.nl/producties/agenda/children-of-zeus
Scenografie en sculpturen, beeldend kunstenaar & co-creator
Valentina Gal
Website: https://www.valentinagal.com
Uitvoerend dansers
Qiqi (Qiyun Zheng), Fleur van der Schaaf, Robbeduz
Dramaturgy
Suzy Blok & Sophie Cohlen
Coaching
Hildegard Draaijer (DOX)
Co-production
Dox Utrecht
Movement Research & Ballroom Artist
Shiva Mugler
Artistic research
Dovilee Krutulytė & Athina Liakopoulou
Music
Guenter Raler, Nils Davidse, Robbeduz (live and tracks)
Costume
Reconstruct & Eva Marie-Louise
Licht Design
David Vermeulen
Residency 2025 (work in progress)
Huis Conny Janssen Danst, Pleintheater, Hollandse Luchten,
What You See Festival 2025 (Theater de Kikker)
Video 1
Filmed by MMMViideo (instagram personal: tremattia)