My Wayang and Me: A Dance Reflection

'My Wayang and Me' is a powerful dance performance that explores how our past can continue to haunt us. It delves into the tensions held within the body, experiences of exclusion, and the pain of not feeling accepted. Yet, it also celebrates the strength of imagination and the desire to break free from the past. Last year, Afra Ernst returned to Indonesia after eighteen years. Born in Jakarta and having moved to the Netherlands at a young age, she questioned why she and her mother had to leave. Her intuition proved correct: it was pure necessity, a choice unmade. This shadowy past is a burden that Afra struggles to release. In her choreography, Afra weaves together dance, poetry, and Indonesian symbolism into a multi-layered performance. Dancers Mauri Kierindoongo, Christiaan Hendriksen, and Moze Naël (poetry) guide the audience through a profound internal battle of learning to accept one's shadowy history. 'If My Wayang and Me' makes it palpable that we are always stronger than our shadows and poses a lingering question to the audience: Are you ready to face your own shadows? ABOUT AFRA ERNST Afra Ernst is a choreographer, dancer, and creator with roots in both Indonesia and the Netherlands. Her work is deeply personal yet resonates universally: a quest for identity, heritage, and the traces left behind by our histories and bodies. In 'My Wayang and Me,' she connects dance with memory, physicality with heritage, inviting the audience to see their own shadows without fear. A production of Rumah - Afra, in collaboration with Café Theater Festival and Stadsschouwburg Utrecht. Thanks to: Fonds Podiumkunsten, Dioraphte, Gemeente Utrecht, the Cultuurfonds (partly thanks to the Karel van Muijden Fonds), BNG Cultuurfonds, Gravin van Bylandt Stichting.