vanishing acts

Maybe you’ll suddenly see me appear, only to vanish before your eyes. Maybe you’ll see me dancing among my invisible friends, and a song I sing will linger in your mind. Or I’ll play hide-and-seek with you, disappearing every time you find me. But was I ever really there? Did I exist only briefly in your imagination—or have you already forgotten me?

With vanishing acts, Felix Schellekens explores humanity's obsession with leaving a legacy and the fear of fading away. Why are we so compelled to stand out and leave our mark? What remains of us if we don’t have children, when our bloodline ends? Everything on this earth eventually performs its own vanishing act, especially now as the climate crisis confronts us with the finiteness of the world around us. What if we focused less on what we leave behind and instead learned to disappear? 

This performance is a sensory and surreal tale of loss, decay, and disappearance. Felix plays, sings, and dances through a universe of shadow play in a desperate attempt to embrace the ephemeral.

About the maker 

Felix Schellekens cannot be easily confined to a single discipline. After studying Mime at De Academie voor Theater en Dans in Amsterdam, he further developed his craft as an actor, singer, dancer, performance artist and theater maker. His great sensitivity and playfulness, intertwined with stark imagery, encourage the audience to feel rather than think.

Felix is a prominent figure within Nicole Beutler Projects. He performed in 8: METAMORPHOSIS, a production that won the VSCD Mime Prize, was nominated for the VSCD Swan, and earned international acclaim by winning the Music Theatre Now competition. In addition, he has worked with various renowned companies and was nominated for a Louis d’Or for his role in Weg met Eddy Bellegueule by Eline Arbo under Toneelschuur Producties. Under the guidance of Nicole Beutler Projects, he is now creating vanishing acts.