She begins to dance

rhythms come flooding

Her father’s red scarf

forever around her neck

This ballet was choreographed (2016)for the Dutch National Ballet by their director Ted Brandsen with music by Tarik O’Regan. It tells the story of the life of Margaretha Zelle who lived before the first world war.

She escapes the cruelties of broken relationships and loss of her children

Alone in Paris she invents a stage exotic persona called Mata Hari; a Javanese Dancer in fabulous costumes

Her bohemian lifestyle brings her fame and success, but eventually gets entangled with of the conflict of WW1

and she is shot as a double agent.