Anima Obscura is a moving and beautifully designed multimedia performance about the desire for immortality. In her first production for Scapino, artistic director Nanine Linning takes us on an emotional journey, from the mysterious practices of alchemists to the contemporary experiments of biohackers. The dancers are protagonists in the search for the one elixir for eternal life.

Against a gigantic video backdrop, choreography, digital animation, holograms, costume design and live music merge into an immersive experience. With a team of international artists, Linning manages to create a world that leaves no one untouched in breathtaking images.

Live music
The performance features Johannes Brahms‘ majestic Ein Deutsches Requiem, cut with Yannis Kyriakides’ Ein Schemen – a contemporary recomposition for choir, harp and electronics. The music is performed live by the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra with baritone James Atkinson and soprano Aphrodite Patoulidou conducted by Giuseppe Mengoli, the 50 singers of the Laurens Symphonic and harpist Remy van Kesteren, who is fully integrated into the choreography

“Anima Obscura is about the essence of life, which is what I try to get close to in image and music. We essentially show a possible theory of evolution in a hundred minutes. I want to start a dialogue about that, entice people through beauty to think differently, to look differently at the world around them.” – Nanine Linning, artisitic director Scapino Ballet Rotterdam