Review: Scapino Ballet Rotterdam: Origin- mind-bendingly creative, not an easy watch
- Ikuko
- 1 day ago
- 3 min read
I went to watch Scapino Ballet Rotterdam's Origin mixed bill programme on 24th January 2026 at Theater Rotterdam in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Origin is the company's annual project to give up-and-coming choreographers opportunities to showcase their creations. This year presents the third such installment and it is specifically titled Origin: The Future is Feminine.
The structure of the show was the same as the last year: two short dance films and two live dance performances. As the title suggests, however, Origin this year focused on female creators, featuring SACRE by Marie-Louise Hertog and WAXES by Sarah Baltzinger and Isaiah Wilson, who gobsmacked the Rotterdam dance community with GOATS in the same event last year. Two short dance films were created by director Boudewijn Koole and choreographer Jakop Ahlbom, and director and choreographer Tizia Benmchich-Lanardonne. Click here for the full credit.
The Origin programme last year was a collective of artworks without any obvious coherence except they were created by emerging creators.
This year, in contrast, these films and dance pieces were built on an underlying theme, socio-cultural gender stereotypes, and they were very well integrated. They altogether felt like a full-length dance with four acts.
Set to Stravinsky's Le Sacre du Printemps, SACRE was danced by all-male casting. In contrast, WAXES was set to a digital score and danced by all-female casting.
SACRE tackled the manosphere and toxic male masculinity. Initially dressed with Shaolin-type outfits, dancers started stripping off down to buggy boxer shorts. It seemed they were lost in the middle of their attempt to become an alpha male. Despite their sculpted bodies, they looked somehow vulnerable.
WAXES might appear shocking to some audience members. The costumes were the fronts of medical female body dummies that were made of wax (please see the YouTube trailer below). The dancers wore them like an apron over plain white tops and shorts. This made a pseudo-nudity even though the dancers were fully dressed. They bent their bodies in strange angles and made strange screams on stage. They started ripping their bodies off towards the end of the performance, which was not an easy watch -- which was strange because they were only wax dummies -- as if they freed themselves from the commoditised femininity into clothing. It was a bold and effective way to let dancers literally physically break the mould. The dance strangely ended with a positive tone.
So far, I have focused on contextual and conceptual aspects of the evening's event in this writing. But, first and foremost, choreographies were mind-bendingly creative. They were entertaining, demanding, technical, witty and unexpected. Before the show, I had wondered how any choreographers could create dance based on such a socio-cultural theme as gender stereotypes without falling into boredom. It was unnecessary of me. They nailed it with pure abstract dance on minimalist stage settings.
Dancers were superb. Whether a solo, a duo, a synchronised precision dance, balletic or free-style, they got it even though choreographies did not really subscribe to the music timings.
Audience loved it. SACRE and WAXES both received well-deserved standing ovations, which seemed to me were genuine and unforced. I gave them standing ovations, too, without feeling obliged.
I highly recommend anyone go to watch this extraordinary programme. However, please note that there are the said pseudo-nudity during the performance, as well as flashing lights. Click here for the full show dates. Until June 2026.
All movie clips, except the trailer, were taken by me with my iPhone 13.
