Bow is a choreographic project centred on the act of bowing or reverence (in English bow), a gesture typical of theatrical and religious contexts and also widespread—though in different forms and modes—within social practices of greeting, recognition, and consent. Through a form of writing embodied in the performers’ bodies, the project aims to develop an analysis of the tensions and ambiguities inherent in this gesture, retracing its history through a catalogue of its variations in order to grasp its sociopolitical and psychological implications.

At once a folding inward toward the self and an opening toward the other, the practice of bowing or reverence is a sign of acknowledging a presence perceived as possessing vital, worldly, or divine power. This recognition—of which the bow is the bodily manifestation—corresponds to a human disposition of dependence, obligation, service, or prayer, oriented toward transcending a limit or obtaining a gift, a grace. Situated on the threshold between subjective intimacy and public representation, this gesture takes on different meanings depending on the degree of bending, ranging from a simple inclination of the head to kneeling or complete prostration. Abnegation and salvation, servility and power coexist within a physical tension that finds in the bow its fragile yet potent measure.