Separovic (Croatia, 1967) is a theater director and choreographer in residence at Dasarts, the institute for advanced research in theater and dance studies in Amsterdam. His last work was an intense particpatory piece that filtered a crowd into successively smaller groups based on their answers to difficult moral questions.

Separovic excels at imperceptibly pulling hidden prejudices from within the audience. He directs them as participants, externalizing their beliefs by literaly having them vote with their feet. Except in this democracy, beliefs are instantaneously social. Private opinions become public.

Separovic invited me to act as a creative consultant and participant in the upcoming production. Using his research as the basis, we’ve begun conceptualizing the format and script of the event. It’s something entirely new for me, and beyond the normal scope of +K, so I’m honored to contribute and learn about the world of experiential design.

‘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