Theaterformen: Magic Maids

In the organizer's words:

Magic Maids - Eisa Jocson & Venuri Perera, La Union & Amsterdam

"The witch" and "the maid" are both myth-enshrouded female figures - despised and feared at the same time, they are poles of the same misogynistic matrix. Even today, the accusation of witchcraft still frequently crops up in the context of the stigmatization of migrant workers. In their dance performance Magic Maids , Eisa Jocson and Venuri Perera work together for the first time and create space for the unheard stories of domestic workers in the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Indonesia in an evening of dance, magic and struggle. Taking the European witch-hunts as their point of departure, they will make a clean sweep of power structures that despise women and use this cleansing ritual to expose the invisibility of care work. The broom is thus elevated from a silent witness to oppression to a symbol of feminist resistance.

Eisa Jocson is a contemporary choreographer, dancer and visual artist based in La Union. Her work exposes the politics of the body in the service and entertainment industries from the unique socio-economic perspective of the Philippines and explores how and under what conditions bodies move. In all her works, ranging from pole dancing and macho dancing to hostess work and Disney princess, capital is the driving force behind the movement that pushes the body into spatial geographies. She won the Hugo Boss Asia Art Award in 2019 and received the Tabori Award International in Germany in 2023.

Venuri Perera is a choreographer, performance artist, curator and educator from Colombo, Sri Lanka, based in Amsterdam. In her solo and collaborative works, she deals with violent nationalism, patriarchy, border rituals, colonial heritage and class. She explores the power dynamics of gaze and opacity through performative experiments in theaters, galleries and public spaces. Venuri Perera has been conceiving and curating programs for the Colombo Dance Platform since 2016, with the support of the Goethe-Institut Colombo.

Concept, design, dramaturgy, performance Eisa Jocson, Venuri Perera Lighting design Ariana Battaglia Musical composition Soraya Lutangu Bonaventure Artistic consultation Rasa Alksnyte, Tang Fu Kuen Text consultation Ruhanie Perera Translation Karen Witthuhn Supertitling Yvonne Griesel Spiritual consultation Nenet Ocson Babaylan-Vaigaland Creative Presence Arco Renz Dramaturgical support Anna Wagner, Alexandra Hennig Production Consulting Sandro Lunin Technical Production Management Seok Hui Yap Producer Katja Armknecht, Anne Kleiner Production Management Greta Katharina Klein, Paula Elena Noack Production Künstler*innenhaus Mousonturm Photos Jörg Baumann

In co-production with Frascati Producties (supported by Ammodo), Tanzquartier Wien, HAU Hebbel am Ufer, SPRING Performing Arts Festival, Festival Theaterformen, DDD - Festival Dias da Dança, Kampnagel, Arsenic - Centre d'art scénique contemporain, La briqueterie CDCN du Val-de-Marne, Points Communs - nouvelle scène nationale Cergy-Pontoise / Val d'Oise, Maillon, Théâtre de Strasbourg - Scène européenne and Esplanade - Theatres on the Bay.

Funded as part of the Alliance of International Production Houses by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media and by the Hessian Ministry of Science and Research, Art and Culture. The project was supported with residencies by the Kaserne Basel, the Puón Institute Philippines, the Goethe-Institut Sri Lanka, Dance Nucleus in collaboration with Studio Plesungan as part of the ARTEFACT Creative Residency and by the Colomboscope Contemporary Art Festival 2024.

Supported by the NATIONAL PERFORMANCE NETZ Guest Performance Fund for Dance, funded by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media, as well as the Ministries of Culture and the Arts of the federal states.

Our thanks to the wonderful women who generously shared their knowledge and stories of work, care and magic with us.