A Deer in the Headlight

Performed with Nymphie and MMT at Portal002

April, 2025

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A Deer in the Headlights is a physical performance that weaves together a Buddhist Jataka tale and Celtic mythology, drawing from the recurring figure of the “sacred deer” across Eastern and Western mythologies—a creature that is divine and graceful, yet fragile and easily betrayed.

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In this performance, the deer’s body becomes a portal. The audience witnesses it being led by humans, caught in the blind pursuit of power, devotion, and eventual dismemberment. Through reflective materials, sound, and movement-based language, the piece constructs a discomforting yet inescapable aesthetic tension.

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The deer is both the hunted and the seducer. The audience is drawn into an ambiguous threshold: to protect it, to chase it, or to destroy it? The body is no longer merely a body—it becomes an invocation, a living sacrifice that probes the instincts and beliefs of those who watch.