Dance: Charis Taplin

The score of this solo takes inspiration from two different figures who have influenced my research lately. The first is the female stuntwoman; heard in interview testimonies of an industry of adrenaline and injury, mishap and euphoria.

The second is the biblical figure of Samson, whose legendary strength was bound to a sacred vow symbolised by his uncut hair. Betrayed by Delilah, who discovered the vow and cut his hair, he was captured. In his final act he regained his strength and destroyed the temple of his captors, killing himself in the process.

This solo searches for a meeting point between the woman in the sequined leotard poised to jump seventy five stories, and the mythical strongman letting the pillars fall to rubble from his shoulders. In impulsive interplays of vulnerability and force, abandon and control.

Charis Taplin is a dance theatre maker from the UK. For the past four years she has studied extensively in Butoh. In 2023 she made her professional Butoh debut at the Amsterdam Butoh Festival with Ix-Butoh Ritual Dance and Theatre under the direction of Coco Villarreal, and has since performed both solo and ensemble pieces with the company in Germany and Spain. She also performs and devises with London Butoh Dance Company, and is currently a student of the New Butoh School in Ruvo, Italy, under the direction of dancer, choreographer and Tai Chi and Qigong master Sayoko Onishi. 

She has also written and directed for the stage and collaborated in short films as a performer and dramaturg. She has performed and devised with interdisciplinary collaborators from visual and sonic arts, and has a strong interest in puppetry and object manipulation. Since February 2025 she has been based in Tallinn where she  performs freelance and studies and leads workshops at the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre.