Nhung Dam: ‘It sometimes feels like I’m living a postponed life’

During the first lockdown, writer and theater maker Nhung Dam (1984) decided to walk. She walked twenty kilometers daily in the vicinity of her hometown of Amsterdam and based the moving solo 3 million footsteps to Sicily on that. She played that performance for the past year and a half between all the lockdowns. The tour has now come to a halt (again).

How are you now?

“I started walking again. Really preventive: a year ago I was not doing very well. That lockdown, curfew and lack of social contact weighed heavily on me. That walking had brought me so much before that I now thought: let’s put on the walking shoes again.

“During previous lockdowns, I immediately had plans and inspiration, but at a certain point that becomes more cumbersome. Being outside and moving helps a lot. I approach it as work: out the door at nine o’clock every morning. This is how you keep the creative machine going.”

What are you running into?

“I am still in the midst of my 3 million footsteps tour to Sicily. With every week that we stay closed, I cross out performances. That hurts and brings financial insecurity with it. Normally I would have done all sorts of other projects in the past two years, now sometimes it feels like I’m living a postponed life.

“The problem is not only whether theaters are open or closed, but also in regaining public trust. There is a delay of months between the opening of the halls and the influx of public. How do we keep the arts close to the people?”

What are bright spots?

“I write a weekly column, which helps. It forces me to keep moving. I have to go out, make sure I talk to someone, experience things. For a maker, everything is material. So even a period of standstill offers a wealth of stories.

“I often realize how lucky I am that I spend a lot of time among other artists. I don’t know any artist who has become cynical. Everyone says: OK, so this is the new situation, we’ll respond to that. That says a lot about the DNA of artists.”

What are you looking forward to in 2022?

My second novel should be published by De Bezige Bij at the end of this year. I can now sprint for that. Furthermore, I hope to complete the tour of 3 million footsteps well. The reactions to that were so warm and comforting, they reminded me again and again why I became a theater maker. And in the meantime I’m also working on a performance for season 22/23. I just pretend that the world will just turn again.”

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