Don't Hit Mama rehearsal of pilot DON’T FAKE THE FUNK (2000). Photo: Jean van Lingen. Don't Hit Mama: Living Archive
In December of 2000 Nita Liem and Bart Deuss started the dance theatre Don’t Hit Mama, a production centre where different people from the hip hop and house dance scene worked on dance projects. For over twenty years, Liem and Deuss collaborated here; Liem as a theatre maker and Deuss as an art director. They based their dance theatre work on hip hop and the African-American dance- and music traditions, which have laid the groundwork for numerous contemporary urban dance styles. From Amsterdam they formed connections with players and producers living both in the Netherlands and abroad, and brought together different dance styles and generations. In addition to dance theatre shows, Don’t Hit Mama also produced so-called club events, a bold intersection between dance theatre and club dance.
During the last years of Don’t Hit Mama, both producers directed their focus more towards their own colonial past. This focus was articulated in the performances Asian Persuasion (2016), a mix between dance, photography and stories about migration and identity, and Asian Celebration (2020), a dance performance about family baggage from a colonial past. In Asian Celebration both Liem and Deuss found a new challenge: shaping the colonial heritage of the Netherlands, especially in Southeast Asia, through movement and visuals. Herein, they placed their own personal histories. This is the work they continue to do.
During the past years, Liem and Deuss have been researching the stories, images and materials they collected in twenty years of producing dance theatre, under the name of Living Archive. What still holds worth in this collection? And how should this be shared? At Framer Framed they delved into their extensive archive of analogue black-and-white pictures from the early days of Don’t Hit Mama: lots of images of dancers and colleagues, all centred around the art of producing. These were all made by photographer Jean van Lingen, who captured all of Liem and Deuss’ work.
Bart Deuss of Don’t Hit Mama checking contactsheets of black and white photos at Framer Framed (2025). Photo: Nita Liem.
Nita and Bart in the Framer Framed exhibition, THE TAIL by MAISON the Faux (2025).
Collectives / Diaspora / The living archive / Performance / Southeast Asia /