Batty Bwoy by Harald Beharie is the “Critic’s Choice”! Yesterday the performance was completely sold out, tonight you have another chance. Join us at 21:30 at Het Huis Utrecht.
“He seems to have emerged naked from a fountain sculpture group. As dancer Harald Beharie (30) sits half-lying on a hard red plinth at the start, he looks like a cross between a son of the gods and a mermaid.” Annette Embrechts – Theaterkrant.
SPRING Reporter Elisavet Droulou – 26-05
Not only does Harald Beharie choose a term (‘batty bwoy’) from his Jamaican cultural background while living in Norway, but he also wants to reclaim it. He puts the queer body of colour at the centre of attention and makes us reflect on our self-perception as accepting and tolerant normative individuals.
We witness a process of self-discovery that begins quietly with the self-centred artist slowly becoming aware of himself. At first he is passive, obedient, almost vulnerable. Subsequently, his diverse identity manifests in a resounding, confident statement of non-normativity.
Despite (or because of) the stigma imposed on him, the artist chooses this way of expression, he tests and provokes our limits, and finally gains a dominant place in the social group. With all parts of his identity proudly expressed, he looks the audience in the eye.
He objectifies his body while we have already forgotten that he is naked. Harald Beharie shows us who he is and who we are at the same time. The table turns and makes noise. He demands our attention: the black queer body is speaking.
