“This feminist freak show … shows how badass bare-assed women can be.” — The New Yorker
“Funny, dangerous, and disgusting.” — Spike Magazine
“Pussy Riot meets the Power Rangers… A wild clash between ballet and feminism.” – de Morgen
In Apollon, the renegade choreographer Florentina Holzinger combines fin de siècle freak shows with 1960s live art, offering a new perspective on the rupture between high art and entertainment culture. Through this hilarious and furious destruction of a classical narrative, Holzinger addresses the myth of the “perfect woman,” the artist herself. Five women tackle the neoliberalist cult of the body, jumping between the aesthetics of an occult fitness-studio, and a cyborg-bullfight, with a hint of Balanchine’s neoclassical ballet quartet Apollo.
Florentina Holzinger resides and works in the Netherlands. Her work sits on the boundary between performance art, choreography, ritual and stunt show. She consciously plays with the shifting of boundaries between high culture and entertainment, exploring different modes of female representation and questioning the full potential of female physicality. Her collaboration with choreographer/performer Vincent Riebeek resulted in a trilogy of pieces: Kein Applaus für Scheisse, Spirit, and Wellness. In addition to this, she created Recovery, Apollon, and TANZ. As of 2021, Florentina will be an artist-in-residence at the Volksbühne Berlin. campo.nu
Advisory: Apollon is appropriate for ages 18+
This project is supported by the Performing Arts Fund NL, General Delegation of the Government of Flanders to the USA , Goethe Institut in New York, as part of the Dutch Culture USA program by the Consulate General of the Netherlands in New York, and the Austrian Cultural Forum.
Support for Skirball Moves programming is provided by the Mertz Gilmore Foundation and the Harkness Foundation for Dance.
