Please tell me more about the core dynamics of “In the Bushes.”

With “In the Bushes,” I wanted to free myself from the works I had previously created, and I aimed to give myself the gift of creative freedom: to not make anything I thought might be expected of me. I wanted to play with the idea of a non-linear structure, I wanted to laugh, and to see a no-people’s land populated by strange creatures making sounds and gestures from another realm. The way the dancers move is very unique—sharp, tense—and our world stumbles. Sounds come out of bodies, dancers lose each other, look for one another.

The initial question was about what we do when we hide—or perhaps, whether we are truly ourselves, the raw, authentic self, when no one is watching. And how are we then? What happens behind the bushes? We make love, get naked, get high, forget about the outside world. Behind the bushes, anything seems strangely possible.

I wanted to embrace the incoherence of our human condition, our constant need to make sense of things.

Then came the question of how humans define what it means to be human. I came across an incredible book by Henry Gee, The Misunderstanding of Human Evolution, which examines evolution theory and the distinction between humans and animals. There’s no need to elaborate on the fact that there are no clear differences—yet the belief that we are the pinnacle of evolution was the perfect starting point for laughing at ourselves. 

Laughing seems to become an act of resistance now that I realise that the fundamental question of the piece is: what remains of humanity when nothing makes sense anymore?

I see a lot of Jung's “shadow self” in your work. I wondered if he was an influence for you?

I have never read Jung. Doing so has been on my list for years, and hearing this now reinforces the fact that I really should get to it! So, the short answer is—not directly. But it’s true that I am extremely interested in (and somewhat amused by) repressed feelings, desires, and impulses. I am fascinated by our ability as humans to condition and mould ourselves to be socially acceptable, by the rawness of our true selves; by what or how we are when we are not pretending. I see us, human beings, as bizarre, scary, moving, detestable, and lovable creatures, crawling on this earth and trying to make sense of things. It is this ‘creatureness’ I am interested in. 

Getting rid of layers of being—what we show to the world and to each other—is what drives my work in the studio. It’s my main creative tool: attempting to switch off the thinking brain as much as possible and embracing the primal, unfiltered part of ourselves.

It’s like tapping into authenticity, instinct, and sometimes, even a trance.  It can be scary, cathartic and pleasurable.