X_YUSUF_BOSS / coproducers: XANUUN

Lees in het Nederlands

XANUUN (Somali for “pain”) is a performance about power, heritage, and the impact of language. Choreographer Mohamed Yusuf Boss creates a gripping, physical performance in which dance, music, and spoken word merge into a powerful statement.

The performance is based on the stories of young Somali migrants who traveled through the Netherlands to the United Kingdom. Where they sought safety, they often found discrimination and excessive violence instead. XANUUN brings these stories to the stage and poses the question: how do words shape our bodies and souls?

One performer speaks from a radio booth, inspired by ‘hate radio,’ a Rwandan station that spread propaganda and hate. The dancers respond physically to the impact of these words. Their bodies become the battleground of power structures, where exclusion and resistance constantly shift. Grime and Trap provide the musical foundation of XANUUN—genres that capture the frustration and energy of a generation, giving the performance a raw and urgent dynamic.

XANUUN is a call to listen to voices that are too often ignored. It is expression, resistance, and remembrance.