MAWU LISA
HAUS MAWU
Inspired by Mawu Lisa, the genderless twin deity of West African mythology the choreography opens with a solemn, misty ritual as the ensemble initiates us into an ephemeral community. Against a polyphonic soundscape, a fabric installation and futuristic costumes take center stage, transporting us into a timeless in-between space, where a brave, queer diasporic aesthetic emerges – held between isolation and communion.
The ensemble of ZOE / HAUS MAWU is electric – the choreography is both a precise and playful embodiment of Black culture that challenges all forms of binary. Cutting through the mix of pulsating House music, nostalgic African classics and bad-ass U.S. hits, the soundscape suspends time to stage a critique of the political rhetoric that has shaped Afro-German and diasporic life: micro- and macro-agressions. News reports. Social media. Protest chants. A defiant krump in one body spreads to the collective: voguing, break-dancing and legwork become the means of reclaiming their bodies and spirits.
Part celebration, ritual and protest, MAWU LISA calls upon the deity to steward their children on a journey of re-membering identity, tradition and spirituality. “Buyela, buyel’ekhaya” is the closing refrain — an invitation, a call, to return home.
Text: Balindile ka Ngcobo and Rika Sakalak for FAVORITEN Festival
Veranstaltungsort
Sozial Ökologisches Zentrum
Gut-Heil-Straße 14
44145 Dortmund
Mitwirkende
Artistic Director and Concept: ZOE (Marie-Zoe Buchholz) // Choreography, Performance and Input: Gifty Lartey, Juan David Mendez, Mandhla Ndubiwa, Maryline Ogboko, Shayne Stubbs und ZOE // Direction Assistance: Maryline Ogboko // Production Management: Lena Peters // Dramaturgy und Outside Eye: Sophie Yukiko // Musical Direction and Sound: Amro Assy // Composition: Amro Assy, Mandhla Ndubiwa // Text: Mandhla Ndubiwa, ZOE // Technical Direction: Sascha Görg // Stage Design / Requisite: Theresa Weber // Costume: Dietrich & Kock // Mentoring: Stephanie Thiersch/Mouvoir
Über die Künstler*innen
With the intention of reflecting on realities through folklore, fiction and pop culture, ZOE founded HAUS MAWU as a space to visualise bodies and stories within a post-patriarchal heterotopia. The company sees itself as a collaborative initiative that focuses on the intersection of diasporic, feminist and queer perspectives through storytelling, performances and rituals.
Notes
Förderung
MAWU LISA by HAUS MAWU, a co-production with tanzhaus nrw, funded by the Kunststiftung NRW, the Düsseldorf Cultural Office, the State Office for the Independent Performing Arts and the Performing Arts Fund from funds provided by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media, and supported by the Düsseldorf Theatre Museum. The re-staging at the FAVORITEN Festival is supported by the Performing Arts Fund, with funding from the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media.