Annemijn Rijk

Power, the male gaze, capitalism... our society is full of normally assumed structural relationships that collectively form the status quo. The way we think, the way we look, even what we think and fantasize about, are framed by these structures within which society takes shape.

Choreographer Annemijn Rijk (1993, Breda) is fascinated by how the body relates to these social, often hidden or socially accepted frameworks, as well as by how the body can challenge them. She explores these dynamics in her life-sized dance film installation Woman's Work.

Six screens show six women from different generations and backgrounds. Inspired by the idea of a catwalk as a metaphor for the ideal female image, the women walk over a narrow steel beam at great height. Five screens show their individual portraits, their own journey within a dominant system. The sixth screen shows their joint resistance. While dancing, they balance mutual relationships, pressure, expectations and manipulation. The fall is inevitable. As is the drive to constantly search for how their flexible bodies can resist the static beam.

Annemijn: “As a choreographer, dancer and human being, I have personally experienced that the body can be a confrontational, yet effective source of change. In my work I focus on the connecting, disarming and ever-communicating power of our body and let the body show us what it means to be human today.”

Also visit the lecture about this work on September 30 at 12:00.