Robin Lesley Nimanong is a Dutch–Thai dance artist based in Amsterdam whose work moves fluidly between dance, performance, and media. They join Studio 88 as an Artist-in-Residence in February 2026 as part of the Reviving Nature: Botanical Breath program, where they will continue developing their current research project, Children of Zeus, which explores the body and plants as interconnected living archives of breath, memory, and resilience. This residency is supported by Fonds Podiumkunsten through the Nieuwe Makers Regeling (Young Makers support).
Working as a performer, maker, teacher, model, and creative producer, Nimanong’s practice is rooted in embodied research and collaborative processes. Under the artistic alias ROBBEDUZ, they develop work that amplifies unheard voices and challenges dominant cultural narratives, drawing clear distinctions between queer identity and queer theory while holding space for care, intuition, and collective experience. Alongside their artistic practice, Nimanong teaches I-AM: Improvisation, Awareness, and Movement, a somatic approach that emphasizes presence, attentiveness, and relational movement.
Nimanong’s artistic language is shaped by a deep engagement with the body as an archive—one that carries memory, ancestry, resilience, and transformation. Reconnecting with their Thai heritage has become a central thread in their recent work, informing an exploration of identity, self-care, and queer ecology through embodied research. Their practice unfolds through long-term collaborations and interdisciplinary encounters, often engaging with non-human elements such as plants, water, breath, and landscape. Through these relationships, Nimanong seeks to create spaces where fluid identities, decolonial perspectives, and alternative futures can emerge.
After graduating with a Bachelor in Modern Theatre Dance from the Amsterdam University of the Arts in 2017, Nimanong began working internationally as a dancer and performer. They spent three seasons with the Batsheva Youth Ensemble and later collaborated with artists and companies including Ivgi & Greben, SHIFFT, Nicole Beutler Projects, Vis à Vis, Maison the Faux, and Marina Abramović at the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam. Alongside their performance career, they have developed a strong teaching practice at institutions such as Fontys, AHK, and ArtEZ, and participated in multiple artistic development trajectories, including the FPK Development Trajectory at DOX Club Utrecht in 2025.
Nimanong’s artistic works include Aphrodisiac II (2019–2020), an award-winning queer film created by and for the queer community, which received the NEXT BEST FRINGE Award in 2020. Subsequent projects such as Bodyscan 223, Cyborg DNA, and Postscriptum 223 further expanded their research into the body, technology, intimacy, and perception, often developed within residency contexts such as ICK Artist Space and Magnezy. Their ongoing project Project Fools (2023–2025) continues this trajectory, questioning social norms, vulnerability, and collective imagination through performance and media.
Parallel to their artistic career, Nimanong pursued academic studies in cultural leadership at Utrecht University and completed a pre-master in Culture, Politics, and Art at the University of Amsterdam. These studies inform their ability to navigate artistic, institutional, and community contexts, reinforcing their commitment to ethical collaboration and sustainable artistic practice.
Nimanong’s current research project, Children of Zeus, set to premiere in 2026, responds to themes of botanical breath, ecological wisdom, and the impact of pollution. The project draws parallels between plants and bodies as living archives, carrying intergenerational knowledge and healing potential. Through physical practice, meditation, nutrition, and collaboration with herbalists, researchers, and local communities in Chiang Mai, the work reconnects Nimanong with their Thai roots while questioning Western-centered worldviews. The project will culminate in a living scenography of water, plants, light, and 3D-printed forms, creating a responsive microcosm in which the body becomes a sculptural, breathing landscape.
Across their work, Robin Lesley Nimanong continues to explore how queer theory, ancestral knowledge, and environmental care can converge in embodied practice. Their artistic drive lies in creating spaces of attentiveness and transformation—where bodies, ecologies, and stories intertwine, and where new ways of being together can be imagined.
Thank you Fonds Podiumkunsten through the Nieuwe Makers Regeling (Young Makers support) for supporting this residency.
More about Robin Lesley Nimanong on his Instagram and website.
Studio 88 accepts applications on an ongoing basis. Check out our residency program and apply now.
Studio 88 Artist Residency 