Déjà Nu

What happens when the familiar loses its color?

With Déjà Nu, Adam Chakir creates a poetic space between memory and the present, between closeness and alienation.

"I created Déjà Nu out of my own dance development, out of the many contexts in which I have learned, felt and moved. Every movement, every gesture bears traces of what I have experienced, moments of closeness, distance, amazement and repetition.

In my dance, I try to make visible the traces that life leaves behind in our bodies. When does familiarity become distance? When can we rediscover the wonder that once made us so alive?"

Four dancers move through landscapes of recognition: gestures return, touches are repeated, encounters seem familiar and yet change with every moment.

Like a favorite song you've heard too often. Like a face that you see every day and suddenly look at anew.

In a subtle play of repetition and change , Déjà Nu examines the traces that life leaves behind in bodies. What happens to wonder when habit takes hold? When does familiarity become distance? And how can we find our way back to a lively perception of the world?

Inspired by Zen Buddhism, phenomenology and neuroscientific findings, the piece combines personal experiences with a collective longing of our time: the desire to really see, feel and be present again.

Between fragile intimacy and powerful physicality, the result is a sensual dance evening full of tenderness, tension and humanity.

Déjà Nu is an invitation to encounter life once again as if it were the first time.