A TRIBUTE TO EVERYTHING THAT BREAKS (atetb)
A TRIBUTE TO EVERYTHING THAT BREAKS is an anime-inspired performance that unravels a breakage. With the elements of light, dance, and visual art, Yoko Haveman deconstructs the non-linear tension between desire, control, and collapse.
GENRE Performance
DURATION ± 40 min
A TRIBUTE TO EVERYTHING THAT BREAKS, by choreographer and performer Yoko Haveman, unfolds as a psycho-dystopian cinematic landscape. An isolated body navigates the tension between a fractured persona and its underlying protest. It stages a perpetual negotiation between control and resistance, drawing on the aesthetics and emotional intensity of neo-noir anime. The performance examines the erotization of violence while exposing a subtle progressive deconstruction.
Positioned at the intersection of performance, visual art, and dance, Haveman constructs a hyper-stylized language that oscillates between restraint and rupture. What begins as a silent act gradually mutates into an erratic, uncontrollable outburst. Escalating through fetishization, infantilization, and isolation, the work exposes the power structures behind the Japanese notions of ‘Lolicon’ and ‘Hikikomori’.
Central to the work is Haveman’s ongoing artistic research into the body as a living archive of memories and transfiguration. Rather than submitting to binary archetypes prevalent within anime, docility versus monstrosity, A Tribute hybridizes this dichotomy in order to reveal an unpredictable, complex, and self-determined character. ‘I want to disrupt and break what has been made consumable and allow the body to exist on its own terms.’
The soundscape is composed by Mara Lalihatu (Animistic Beliefs), who draws from two distinct genres, electronic and ambient. A layered sonic environment functions in close dialogue with lighting design by Chieljan van der Hoek, shifting between the ethereal and the abrasive. What emerges is a charged environment where exposure and concealment are held in constant tension, continuously redefined through their interplay.
A TRIBUTE TO EVERYTHING THAT BREAKS offers a raw and immersive experience that confronts and unsettles. Audiences are invited into a charged encounter with vulnerability and reclaimed agency.
“With a powerful work inspired by dark anime, martial arts, and paralyzing female imagery, YokoHaveman presents herself as a performance maker. Her physical language shifts from hunched and turned away to grand, supercharged, and willing to take physical risks.”
CREDITS
CONCEPT, DIRECTION, AND PERFORMANCE Yoko Haveman
ARTISTIC COACH Cherish Menzo
DRAMATURGY Courtney May Robertson
SOUND DESIGN Mara Lalihatu (Animistic Beliefs)
SCENOGRAPHY Lena Michel van Drie, Yoko Haveman
TECHNICIAN AND LIGHT DESIGN Chieljan van der Hoek
SET BUILDER Maarten Smids - Man Met Hamer
COSTUME Yoko Haveman
PHOTOGRAPHY CAMPAIGN IMAGE Lisa Schamlé
GRAPHIC DESIGN Ringailė Demšytė
PRODUCTION Dansateliers
CO-PRODUCTION Grand Theatre Groningen, Nederlandse Dansdagen Virtual Residency, Studio FCP
WITH THE SUPPORT OF OFFSPRING Utrecht, Theater Rotterdam, Theater Kikker
WITH THE FINANCIAL SUPPORT OF Gemeente Rotterdam, NORMA fund
THANKS TO Gideon van der Stelt, Vera Bonder, Charlotte Goesaert
TOURLIST 2026
17th of February 2026 | Theater Rotterdam, NL18th of February 2026 | Theater Rotterdam, NL3rd of March 2026 | Theater Kikker Utrecht, NL4th of March 2026 | Grand Theatre Groningen, NL- 4th of December 2026 | Frascati, Amsterdam, NL
- 5th of December 2026 | Frascati, Amsterdam, NL