AUDIOVISUAL CLUB EXPERIENCE DISSOLVING THE BOUNDARIES BETWEEN LIVE ACTS, DJ’S AND PERFORMANCES
Freaky Dancing is a Utrecht-based collective that creates new club experiences where live acts, DJs, and art collide, merge, and transform each other. They aim to bring out the best of each of these elements and create space for experimentation and evolution. For their fifth edition, Freaky Dancing returns to WAS., where boundaries between live acts and DJs blur, and post punk, techno and more will intertwine with performance arts and installations.
Animistic Beliefs (hybrid)
It’s not often you come across artists who are doing something that is completely singular, something that simply cannot be replicated by others because the art is so informed by personal background. This certainly is true for Animistic Beliefs. Initially meeting as underage attendees of Rotterdam’s nightlife, they combined their interest in techno, electro, gabber, and punk with a preference for analogue equipment, often soldering their very own hardware. Throughout the years though, the duo delved deep into their Moluccan and Vietnamese-Chinese heritage, rediscovering traces of culture that conventional history had erased: South-East Asian tonality, tribal rhythms and pre-colonial poetry have become more and more central to their work, which has been released on labels like Dekmantel and Herrensauna. As such, Animistic Beliefs have become a powerful hybrid of the political and personal, a constantly evolving force that pairs a punk mentality with emotional release to form exhilarating, ritualistic experiences.
Gamma Intel b2b Samira
We’re not quite sure heaven exists, but if it does, that’s probably where the match between Gamma Intel and Samira was made. Both are adventurers, always searching for the darkest alleys of acid, electro, techno and wave. Gamma Intel being a Pinkman alumnus and co-founder of the Nerve Collect label alongside Identified Patient, his surprising sets burst at the seams with attitude and punch. Samira, meanwhile, adds a surplus of grit to proceedings: as a resident at Rotterdam stronghold Operator Radio, her sets seem to be a subconscious reflection of the city she calls home. Together, they’re on a quest for the elusive sweet spot between the weird and the wonderful, and for unfamiliar nuances in familiar worlds. Sure, you’ll dance, just not to the tune you might expect.
HUNTER – OFF RECORD!!!
by Courtney May Robertson
Are we in a BDSM dungeon? Are we in an emo girl’s bedroom? In any case, Courtney May Robertson will transport us far away from our familiar dancefloor. HUNTER – OFF RECORD!!! is the underground offspring of her award-winning theatre production HUNTER, a chaotic and immersive performance and installation featuring Robertson and her silicone doppelgänger. HUNTER is an interdisciplinary performance that reflects on the pervasive misogynistic roles assigned to women in horror, pornography and melodrama. It’s angry. It’s sad. It’s horny. It’s quite possibly the freakiest Freaky Dancing has ever gotten. You’ll probably be tempted to look away, but with HUNTER being mentioned in NRC’s 10 Best Dance Performances of 2024 and receiving four stars from de Volkskrant, we’re also quite sure this will be something that you want to see.
YARD
While most bands record their music in a well-equipped studio, we suspect YARD’s sessions take place in a derelict factory. The Dublin three-piece have quickly built a reputation for themselves with gripping noise pieces – calling them ‘songs’ would do them a disservice – bridging the gap between techno and post-punk. Having played festivals like Primavera, Into The Great Wide Open and Eurosonic, and supported bands like Shame, Chalk and Freaky Dancing darlings Mandy, Indiana, YARD has also become a must see on the live circuit. Don’t expect a concert, expect an intense and immersive sensory experience in the vein of Death Grips, Nine Inch Nails and Gilla Band.
