KENKI KRIN KRIN is an interdisciplinary performance by creator and performer Cherella Gessel (she/he/they), in which different identities are peeled away and rebuilt layer by layer. It is an ode to their travels, research, and exchanges in Senegal, Suriname, Salvador (Brazil), New York, and Curaçao and their communities. As a result, the performance is steeped in Afro-spirituality, Afro Contemporary Dance, rap, Spoken Word, and pole dance.
What happens when different winti and Orishas come together in Cherella’s world? They meet under their skin: a playground of genderf*ck, the feminine Videovixen, the masculine rapper, the HipHopHead with a Black Panther mindset, in the form of a pop concert.
KENKI KRIN KRIN – transformation to sincerity in Sranantongo – follows the path from the emotional suppression of a vulnerable child to a powerful, outspoken Black queer personality. As an associative journey, the boundaries between the traditional and the contemporary, the spiritual and the earthly will blur. The performance is a representation of vulnerability and conformity, moving towards freedom, sensuality, and self-determination. We see a person who claims their place in life, the community, and the arts. In a time where being queer is under pressure worldwide, the creator uses the body as a carrier of memory, healing, and resistance.
KENKI KRIN KRIN is an invitation to a collective ritual.
Idea/concept and performance: Cherella Gessel
A co-production of Well Made Productions & Bijlmer Parktheater
Photographer: Elisa Michelle