‘In my work I want to touch a deeper layer, a layer that’s about emotions and human instincts. I want to explore the fine line between man and animal.’

It was as if we were entering a slaughterhouse. We walked directly under the performers, who were dangling by their ankles, convulsing, perhaps in their last breaths. We dispersed to grandstands on either ends of the long hall, the lights suddenly blackened, and the piece began between us.

I saw Cry Love with Ilse Vandervelden, a very good friend, former dancer and dance critic for the premier Dutch newspaper, NRC. She’s put Cry Love in perspective, essentially concluding that Linning has established an entirely new dance grammar.

Nanine Linning’s Cry Love, by Ilse Vandervelden