Trailer: https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/655732949

While it was common to possess pictures of naked children in Victorian times, a time during which the age of consent was 12 years old, and that up till the 70s in Europe having sex with a minor was still up for debate, Vladimir Nabokov’s novel ‘Lolita’ (1955) was a scandal. Yet Nabokov describes his main character Lolita as a victim, but this is not what mass culture has retained; despite her innocence, she seduces and charms men.



The performance piece ‘Oh Di Doo Dah’ deconstructs the stereotype of the nymphet; a child whose image is sexualized, or a woman seen as naive and carefree. It plays with the tension between innocence, childishness and seduction, creating an uncanny and silent environment with in the end an enigmatic electronic sound score by Jasna Veličković. I choreographed material looking at images and videos found both in paintings, literature and pop culture such well-known francophone references that have been part of my teenagehood. Those include video clips and songs by singer Jane Birkin who was the Lolita of Serge Gainsbourg, Vanessa Paradis who started in the show business at 16, Lio with her hit ‘Banana Split’ that she sang at 17 without knowing much about the lyrics, among others. Some more contemporary references include the passivity and poses of some Japanese sex dolls.