Afternoon of a Nymph – 15 October [full]

In 1912, Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune by Nijinsky shocked audiences with its radical movement style and explicit themes. More than a century later, Dunja Jocić turns this iconic ballet inside out. In Afternoon of a Nymph, she shifts the focus from the faun to the nymph, who in the original was merely a silent object of desire.

Jocić frees her from that role and explores how identity is shaped through the gaze of the other. She questions the mechanisms behind the gaze, where power, identity, and perception intertwine. In this intense performance, featuring a cast of seven outstanding dancers, perspectives are overturned and the gaze begins to fracture, making confrontation inevitable. With razor-sharp precision and physical intensity, Jocić dissects what it feels like to break away from an imposed narrative.

Music plays a central role in this transformation: composer and multi-instrumentalist Jonathan Bonny, known for his innovative fusion of classical, pop, and electronic music, recomposes Debussy’s masterpiece into a powerful new composition.

The people at the International Theatre Amsterdam have kindly offered a very limited amount of free tickets for Subbacultcha members. Please make a reservation only if you know you can go by sending an email to mailinglist@subbacultcha.nl with ‘Afternoon of a Nymph Wednesday 15 October’ in the subject line + your name in the email.