By Moos van den Broek | Theaterkrant 30-06-2026
(EN)
* Critic's Choice*
In the minimalist Hot Walk, choreographer Keren Levi draws a parallel between climate change and the aging female body. The ingenious interweaving of dance, text and video creates as much space for this urgent theme as it does for the personal.
Are we in a gym or in a park? The setting of Hot Walk references both. In the tightly orchestrated space, two treadmills are installed with two large projection screens directly behind them. On the two screens, video artists Assi Weitz and Rob Gradisen show images of paths through a landscaped green environment. It's as if we're walking through it, covering a path ourselves.
On the treadmill are two performers, Esther Mugambi and Hillary Blake Firestone, who take the audience through spoken — and occasionally sung — dialogues into the life of an older woman. At first the two performers' texts are somewhat cryptic, but the code quickly falls into place. Hot Walk is a subtle play with perspectives, in which the performers play with the fact that they are directed, and the imagery questions the given of "authenticity." A park, after all, is also "artificial" nature. With simple means, Levi thus creates a layered world that touches as much on humanity's inventiveness as on its weaknesses.
Lightness and gravity alternate, and in the meticulous direction every detail matters. With a sharp bang, the performance repeatedly introduces a new chapter, drawing a connection between the transformations of the female body and the earth. Think of hot flashes and global warming. I lose the thread for a moment when a chapter about seals wanders from the otherwise consistent line of the performance. But it does little to diminish the sincere statement of Hot Walk, which alternates introspection with philosophical reflections.
It turns out to be the prelude to the irrevocable acceleration that forms the dramatic climax of the performance. Order transforms into chaos. Driving electronic beats, sharp dance sequences and jumps on and beside the treadmill accompany an apocalyptic image montage. As in an exorcism ritual, the performers conjure away the heat. Afterwards, entirely in line with the biological rhythm of the female body, calm returns to the performance. What a remarkable dramaturgical premise!
But what does that mean for the state of the earth? Is recovery possible after all? With great poetic sensitivity, Levi draws connections. While the two inhabitants find themselves in a new dimension, she gives voice to the earth. The need is great. Time, after all, is a precious thing once decline has set in. Hot Walk is a cry of distress, coming from deep within the maternal womb.
LINK for review in NL here
