DELUSIONS

Ballet in two parts by Izadora Weiss
Music: Ludwig van Beethoven, John Eccles, Giya Kancheli, Zoë Keating, Karol Szymanowski, Caroline Shaw, Dobrinka Tabakova, Antonio Vivaldi (recordings)
World premiere: 11 June 2026, Polish National Ballet

The performance is a manifesto of women’s freedom, independence, and their right to choose their own path, regardless of how controversial it might be.

In the era of social media, when everything is fabricated to the point of becoming an illusion of the truth, the need to defend one’s identity takes a fundamental importance. Two women – the fictional character of Roxana and the iconic writer Virginia Woolf – both have to deal with their imperfections, weaknesses, and wrong choices while striving for perfection in art and life. What is this pursuit of the ideal, of physical perfection devoid of soul, poetry, sensitivity, and wisdom. Remnants posted online replace genuine dialogue and an attempt to find a common way out of the digital chaos. Being misunderstood, the continuous need to please the followers whom one does not personally know. Roxana falls victim to her vanity and need to be adored by a male idea she devised. The unsatisfied need makes her unhappy. Like many women similar to her she succumbs to the temptation of superficial beauty. Realising and liberating herself of the obsession makes her truly free, powerful, and independent. Virginia frees herself of her obsessive thoughts. Her choice is controversial, shocking, yet liberating. Paradoxically, her lack of breath makes her free from her ailing mind. Men also undergo a crisis of identity by succumbing to the stereotypes that do not leave any space for their sensitivity or weakness. We all feel constantly judged and tested for endurance. We are supposed to be perfect, which is a straightforward path to become ruthless, cold-hearted, and lonely.

The platform for the story is provided by Izadora Weiss’s original dance theatre, full od passions, desires, ephemeral moments of happiness, real contact, and human struggles in the contemporary world. It is a brave conversation with the audience about the limit to the right to freedom. Is there one and if so, where does it lie? Typically for Weiss’s original productions, the music plays the key role in shaping the narrative. The score for Delusions features the unique music by Karol Szymanowski, Ludwig van Beethoven, Antonio Vivaldi, Dobrinka Tabakova, a Grammy-nominated artist who works with Royal Philharmonic Society, BBC Radio 3, and European Union of Broadcasters, Caroline Shaw, an American composer who won the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 2013, John Eccles, an English baroque composer to the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, and other composers.

Polish National Ballet