MEET THE MAKERS

Inevitable speaks to our longing to hold on, to shape what cannot be shaped, to resist the flow of life. Change, the only true constant, moves faster than we can grasp, touching us even in silence, even when we are unaware. In our struggle to resist changes, we meet only tension, suffering, and inevitable failure. Yet the question remains: how do we soften and surrender to what we cannot control? 

This piece captures a struggle between resistance and release, embodying the tension of letting go and the grace of becoming. What begins in conflict finds its way to acceptance, carrying a thread of hope. Because change is inevitable, the path of least suffering is learning to be graceful.

Inevitable grew out of a broader exploration of change and improvisation-based movement research guided by Ania. The final composition is a co-creation shaped by the collective voices of performers McKenna, Seline, and Wiktoria.

Performed by: Wiktoria Zygumunt, Selin Yucelbak, McKenna Mahacek

Music: McKenna Mahacek

ACHTERUIT

Marije Neumann is a 22-year-old Dutch dancer who’s exploring her way into the professional dance world. She started taking dance more seriously when she turned 15, but took a break around 18 years old to take some time to grow into herself as a person. Now at 22 years old she’s been back for the past almost two years and is happier than ever to fully commit to dance. Mostly trained in contemporary with a foundation of ballet and some urban touches here and there she likes to create phrases and pieces with the knowledge she attained in these different styles during past years. 

Her choreography is grounded, raw, with a technical base and is formed by the dancers who perform it. She finds tuning into your own body while dancing very important and she uses that during choreographing and teaching, because each body is different and has its own unique qualities.

ACHTERUIT

‘Achteruit’ is a personal and raw contemporary dance piece that tells the story of the choreographer Marije Neumann, who’s been diagnosed with severe heart disease only a few months ago at a young age, through a small group of young dancers. 

They interact with each other in different ways through rhythmic, shifting and fractured movement to capture the different stages of grief. They move through denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance, all in their own ways. Connecting with each other, breaking up and being on their own, being caught in moments of frustration and helplessness, but also in quiet attempts to hold on.  

It’s about losing control of your plans for the future but also of today while feeling like you’re constantly trapped inside your own body.   

‘Achteruit’ offers an honest glimpse into the different sides that come with medical uncertainty. It is not supposed to be a ‘sob story’ or a victimizing narrative. It’s about visibility of the invisible, about showing what chronic illness can look like beneath the surface, especially in young people. 

‘Achteruit’ means backwards in English, because sometimes feeling like you’re going backwards doesn’t have to mean you can never move forwards again. 

Performed by: Marije van de Velde, Jula Verleg, Imke ter Riet

Music: Tom van Wee

UNREADY

Unready tells the story of two lovers doomed by the timing of their encounter. As they fight against the creeping poison of pessimism and mistrust, they begin to change one another in ways that damage their bond. This duet reflects on how our core beliefs ultimately shape the fate of our relationships.

Music: Childish Gambino

BOUND

This is McKenna’s new work in progress. Bound explores the process of setting and unraveling boundaries as an impetus for change. What limits exist purely in one’s mind? How can we approach situations with more curiosity and fewer pre-conceived ideas about how things are supposed to go? Conversely, how can setting limits open us to more creativity?

Music: Gwenno Morgan

McKenna is an autodidact contemporary dancer creating and performing in Amsterdam and beyond. She created the platform Fledgling Dancers Amsterdam as a gathering place for blossoming dancers to perform. She can also be seen performing with contemporary collective Modern Bruises, improvisation collective Movement Laboratory, and freelancing as a dancer, actress, and producer in Europe and the United States.

FRAGILE PRESENCE

This choreographic concept explores change as a fundamental condition of the human experience, starting from a central question: how does the body shape our inner life, our emotional state, and our way of being in the world? Through dance, the body becomes the space where the tension between external expectations and inner fragility is expressed. The performers move between the desire to disappear and the unconscious will to resist. In this struggle, the body does not give in: it vibrates, adapts, falls but continues to transform. It is within this change that a deeper truth emerges: change is not merely a transition from one state to another, but a living process, inscribed in the flesh, in the breath, in the gesture. Dance thus becomes a space of resistance and renewal, where the human being confronts their own limits and discovers, through movement, the possibility of going beyond them.

Performed with Gabriél Vassilli Biondini
Photo: Jacopo Greppi
Music: The Beatles, Nils Frahm

Chiara Mucciarella is a freelance performer and choreographer. She graduated in Italy at ArteMente, a center for advanced dance training, and since then has collaborated with several choreographers who have profoundly shaped her artistic journey, including Constanza Macras (Non ho l’età, Lunella Cherchi (Societas), Simone Donati (The Weight of Air), Maria Giovanna Delle Donne (41), and Vittoria de Ferrari Sapetto (Turn it on/off).

Over the years, she has developed her own choreographic language, driven by the urgency to give voice to contemporary, often political, issues, with the intention of provoking critical reflection on today’s world. Her creative research grows out of personal experiences and seeks a kind of movement that feels necessary, authentic, and rooted in emotion.

She draws inspiration above all from bodies not trained in dance, observing how they move in specific situations and translating this into gestures that are alive, real, and never ornamental. Every creation begins with an emotion, exploring how it arises and takes shape in the body spontaneously. In her process, she guides performers through dedicated training that allows them to access deep emotional states, from which sincere and transformative movement can emerge.

In 2024, her co-creation with Anna Bonechi, Il Paradiso sa di mare, was selected for the MilanOltre Festival as part of the Affollate Solitudini Teens program, and was presented in October 2024 at Teatro Elfo Puccini.

YOUNG AND BEAUTIFUL

This is a modern/contemporary solo delving into the theme of change. It questions whether love will last even when external things such as beauty and age change, exploring how time inevitably changes us all.

Music Lana del Rey

DE WIND EN IK

This piece is about standing in the wind to feel (uitwaaien). It's about finding peace when everything feels hectic, and feeling your inner storm when everything seems to stand still. It’s about accepting change within yourself and the changes that happen every day around you.

Performed with Rosa Grillo

Music: Småland, Lily Chou Chou

Movement Laboratory is a collective directed by Sofia Garcia Miramon dedicated to the practice and study of Improvisation and Composition on stage. We aim to explore the response of the body to movement, sound & music, others and space. Beyond workshops, Movement Laboratory also develops public theatrical performances composed in real time. Past works include Akellare, Tempest and Ephemera.

About the performance: The dancers have the task to improvise and compose a piece fully in the moment. There are no pre-written scores or strict rules. Every decision is made spontaneously in the moment. The dancers don't know which music will play in advance.

Performed by: Date van der Zaag, Georgina Markopoulou, Putri Ratnawisesa, Valerie, Wiktoria Zygumunt, Yesica Diaz

Thank you to the many people that made this evening possible. We operate without external funding and your ticket sales make an evening like tonight possible.

Thank you to all of the makers and performers who volunteer their time to show their art.

Thank you to Fajo Jansen for offering the space and technical assistance.

Thank you to Gemma Rijnders, Timothy Andrew, Ania Skotniczna, and Christina Mastori for photo and video assets.

Thank you to our intern Selin Yucelback for production support, lighting support, and hosting.

Thank you to volunteers Georgina Markopoulou, Wiktoria Zygumunt, Yessica Diaz, Kevin Wallace, and Sofia Garcia Miramon

We hope to see you at our showcases in the future!

Sincerely,

McKenna (our founder)