YOUTH (working title) is a satirical dance-theatre work that celebrates the vitality, intelligence, and courage of students and educators. It honors the classroom as a space of dialogue, risk, and transformation. 

Created for a live experience, in a white-box or a proscenium theatre with a white scrim backdrop, the 75-minute work features 5 performers blurring the lines between dancer and actor, playing both students and educators. 

The stage acts as a whiteboard and open canvas where creativity and freedom of speech is encouraged and celebrated. Parts of the text will appear projected on stage. Initially helpful, the projections act as a guide to the performers' dialogues and actions. Gradually, the text evolves into its own character and becomes increasingly invasive and unreliable, interrupting, distorting, and running ahead. Progressively the stage becomes an enclosed room where it is impossible for the performers to find the edges and exits. It's not as safe as we thought.

The evening, scored by Peter M. Murray, merges experimental lush synthesizer and percussion arrangements with intricate, athletic, and grounded contemporary floorwork and partnering. Between monologues and dialogues, the performers float, slide and reconfigure like puzzle pieces. 

The text is grounded in research and interviews with high school and college students and educators in the US and Switzerland. It is a reflection of their internal and external dialogue when asked: “How do you facilitate a space for critical thinking in a polarized society?", “Can movement and creativity serve as an act of collective freedom?”, and “Do you feel safe to share and defend your ideas publicly?”

As an immigrant artist unable to vote in the US, I experience this work as a form of civic participation and an invitation to gather, listen, and practice empathy across differences. Growing up in Europe, where the rise of fascism in the 1930s was deeply ingrained in my education, I feel profoundly connected to the historical warnings embedded in this story. To me, the parallels between that period and the alarming shifts unfolding in the US today are unmistakable. This work is not only artistic inquiry, but a personal response to patterns I was taught to recognize and never ignore.

The creation of YOUTH is inspired by how students today are forming political identities in a climate where truth is unstable and civic literacy is eroding. With book bans in states like Florida, Texas, and Tennessee, the rise of social media trends, and algorithmic misinformation, polarization is deepening and space for conversation is shrinking. 

At its core, YOUTH champions the bravery of freedom of speech, and the radical act of speaking one's truth. 

Currently in early development, YOUTH is projected to premiere in New York City in Fall 2027.

Premiere: projected Fall 2027

Length: 75 minutes

Performance: 5 Dancers

Choreography and Direction: Nicole von Arx (in collaboration with the cast)

Music: Peter M. Murray TBC

Lighting Design: Conor Sale TBC

Set Design: TBD

Costume Design: Caitlin Taylor

Support: Danse Mirage Foundation, Inc.