Double Bill: Pleaser & Azadî

Duration

75 min

Sometimes, a night at Korzo is about exploring the full emotional spectrum.
You want to be surprised, yet you also enjoy sinking into your comfort zone.
These two fresh voices in the theatre world bring exactly that contrast to the stage. Cristian presents physical theatre full of irony and humor, while Yasmin leads a dancing ensemble that dives fearlessly into the darkness of trauma.

Two worlds, one evening of discovery.

Too nice, pay the price

What do we lose when we keep trying to be liked?
What do we gain when we stop?

Pleaser is a solo physical performance by Cristian Boscheri about how people-pleasing is born, how it takes hold of the body, and how hard it is to loosen its grip.

Through (break)dance, clowning, and an intimate stage setup, Cristian traces the desire to be good, helpful, and approved of as it reshapes behavior. Funny, uncomfortable, and sharply observed, Pleaser asks what happens when care turns into a strategy, approval into a negotiation, and what might shift when the disease to please loosens its grip.

Credits

Writer, director, performer : Cristian Boscheri
Outside eyes: Goos Meeuwsen, Aurélia Brailowsky, Shaliesh Bahoran, Harvey Cobb
Composition and Music Production: Carlo Dini
Light Design: Edwin van Steenbergen

Co-production: Circusstad Festival (through Circunstruction)

Support: Gemeente Rotterdam, Cultuurfonds, Amsterdam Fonds voor de Kunsten, Fonds Podiumkunsten, CircusBende, PimOff Milano, Panama Pictures

Free to move

Azadî is the Kurdish word for 'freedom’ and tells both Yasmin’s personal story and that of countless others forced to live with oppression. In this dance performance, Yasmin and her dancers give ‘trauma’ a physical language. We see what happens when freedom is taken away, how trauma embeds itself deep in the body and subconscious, and how the process of healing never truly ends.

Azadî draws on her Kurdish and Indonesian roots and the imposed legacy of colonial oppression. Accompanying the performance is a photo series created by Yasmin in collaboration with residents of asylum seeker centres.

For Yasmin, tears are meant to flow here to release and send energy to those still suffering.

Credits

Performers : Emelie Obernosterer, Julia Baino, Nikki Duin, Yasmin Diktaş, Casey pronk,
Direction : Yasmin Diktaş
Choreography : Yasmin Diktaş
Susan Evers, Mallory Martis, Aileen Offerbeek & Celine Shi

Partners: Karavaan Alkmaar, Stichting de Vrolijkheid, Stichting Zsalliance
Funding: Simon & Theresia Cultuurfonds, ATD-Fonds, Voordekunst Cultuurfonds

From the moment they move, their dance is full of spirit. Their arms sweep in wide arcs, their hair fluttering in the air. Sometimes they make trembling movements, mostly originating from the shoulders. Their breathing is often audible – they are fully present in the here and now.

– Theaterkrant, 10 March 2025

Italian native Cristian Boscheri is an interdisciplinary maker, dancer, and comic based in Rotterdam. He previously worked as an engineer and co-founded Stichting Wedowe before fully committing to the arts. He started as a breakdancer, for which he won numerous awards at a young age, before transitioning into stand-up comedy, gaining national and international recognition for his work. In his solos, he blends dance, mime, clowning, and humour, always leaving room for vulnerability and playfulness. His research focuses on how emotional and psychological states shape our perception and relationships, and how comedy as a language, verbal, physical or mixed, interacts with movement and audience engagement.

After seeing the impact on the audience and the dancers following my first performance, I decided as a creator to tackle a new social topic, drawing on my combative spirit rooted in my Indonesian and Kurdish heritage. My family, ancestors, and I have all been affected by the current situation in Kurdistan and the history of Indonesia.

Yasmin Diktaş graduated from the Amsterdam Academy of Dance and Theatre in 2024. That same year, she received the Henny Kamerman Dansersprijs, a distinction for remarkable and original dancers, shared with Maria Gomez Becerra.

She has participated in various dance projects, including BlackBirds Festival 2023, VIER x VIER, and the performance Toeslagen, alongside other dancers. She is also involved in Don't Hit Mama with Nita Liem and Bart Deus, in which she uses dance to connect the stories of her Indonesian grandparents with the audience.

Her work is guided by a strong social vision and a deep belief in the healing power of dance.