Can I have this dance with you?
performance, 30:00”, 2025
collaboration with Beatrice Vorster.
Can I have this dance with you? Performed at Biblioteka, London, U.K. photo Chris Schreiber.
‘Can I have this dance with you?’ presents a ‘meet cute’ between the protagonist and the devil. Framed as a cinematic reading, the text itself addresses the notion of evil in the neo-liberal 2.0 framework, playing with the theological point of reference. This is accompanied by excerpts of tape slowed waltzes and Bernard Herrman scores. It is dramatic to the point of parody, interrupted by short glimpses of a cliche club pick up scene, ending with a dance.
[make a deal with god, A deal with devil]
The devil is a mirror to our own abyss. He amplifies the voices of ambition, of pride, of despair, of shame and of self-loathing. The very freedom we are given to choose is a double-edged sword. It is the freedom by which we define ourselves, but it is also the means by which we corrupt ourselves. a gift and a curse.
And so, the devil becomes not just a figure of mythology or theology, but an expression of the deepest, most existential aspects of human nature: the desire to transcend, to rebel, to create, to destroy. In many ways, the devil is the archetype of the human condition itself, a force that exists within us, shaping our choices and actions, pushing us toward destruction even as we believe we are acting in our own self-interest. Evil, in this sense, is not a separate force to be defeated; it is a constant companion.
“Can I have this dance with you?”
Evil is not something that happens to us; it is something that happens through us, an inevitable consequence of the very freedom we are given to choose. And it is this tension between freedom and limitation that lies at the heart of this, of us.
The room swells with shadows, a flicker of bright flame in the corner of your eye. A flexible extension of a hand, gloved in smoke and sin- you take it, trembling. The music is slow, like it is born from beneath the dusty carpet, steaming above. each note a whispered confession, each step a secret revealed. The floor tilts, or is it your heart? This laughter curls like burnt paper, a melody, irresistible. Around you, the world dissolves into ash and stars. You wonder if you’re leading, or if you ever were, as the devil spins you into a darkness so profound. It feels like home.
full text available on request.