Voices from the South

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Música Verde (Green Music) Is a live looping concert where Mexican singer songwriter Amanda Tovalin shares her views about nature in the cities with her sonic experimentation. This technique is based on the live recording of different rhythmic and melodic sequences, phrases or loops, overlapping one on top of the other, forming a particular live arrangement that generates a truly progressive vibe in listeners, something that will undoubtedly capture your attention. "Green Music", name of the material performed in this video concert, whose concept covers unusual themes within the musical mainstream, such as the loss of contact with nature, the damage it has suffered from global urbanization and how to recover this connection with what is green, what is natural, within an area that is becoming more and more made of stone and cement.

Artist information
Amanda Tovalin has a sweet and curious personality. Always full of energy it seems that her worst fear is getting bored. Mexican singer, violinist, and composer explores elements if Latin American folklore, jazz, and contemporary and experimental music in her songs.

amandatovalin.com

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AnotherKind is a collaborative theatre project presented by South African theatre-makers, performers, sound, collage and video artists.

It draws from Amy Louise Wilson’s award-winning play ‘Another Kind of Dying’, which tells the story of a young man from rural Eastern Cape who moves to Johannesburg after the death of his father.

An unusual archive which documents another kind of process: a meeting of theatre rehearsals, text fragments, video and sound experiments which explode in a playful, poetic and political collaboration.

Featuring Aphiwe Livi.

Artist information
Amy Louise Wilson is a South African artist, writer and performer. Together with artist Francois Knoetze she is the co-founder of Lo-Def Film Factory, a pop-up experimental community art collective whose work involves archival research, dramaturgy, and visual strategies associated with video art, collage, sculptural installation and new media. Their work, which has been shown at at International Film Festival Rotterdam, Geneva International Film Festival, MUTEK Montreal, Rencontres Internationales Berlin, Lubumbashi Biennale and OpenCity DocFest London, aims to explore and create space for collaborative and experimental community storytelling. As a writer, she won South Africa’s premiere award for emerging playwrights, the Distell National Playwrighting Award, for her script ‘Another Kind of Dying’, the text upon which her new multi-media work ‘AnotherKind’ is based. She is committed to working with young people and communities in facilitating collectively-minded, radical and subversive storytelling.

anotherkind.nationalartsfestival.co.za

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Conquest of Bread is a creative and critical space woven mostly by working women and domestic workers from San Juan de Abajo, Mexico, to discuss their working conditions. An invitation to act from the historical recognition of the abuses and workers' struggles carried out by their gender, the political imagination located in the present and the demand for labour justice from art and activism.

Artist information
Lxs de abajo is a community art collective that bets on the link between the performing arts, urban art and applied art, as a means of expression for the identity of the San Juan de Abajo neighborhood; a space where citizen participation is promoted, the testing of possibilities against common problems and the exercise of affection and care. It is made up of around thirty people, including adults, youth, adolescents and children; In addition to his scenic project, he works on the adaptation of a community cultural center based on architectural exploration with waste materials from the construction industry and collaborative work: La Casa de Abajo. In November 2020 the group will be holding its first community art meeting.

uncolectivo.com/conquistadelpan

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This is a story of Chandra, a woman Tamasha troupe owner who is struggling to survive the changing audience demands. Accompanied with live music, the performance is presented in the traditional folk theatre form of Tamasha.

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Kali Billi Productions (KBP) is a theatre company based in Mumbai. Savitri Medhatul the founder of Kali Billi Productions is researcher, theatre maker and a documentary filmmaker. Savitri has been collaborating with Lavani and Tamasha artists since 2005. Over the years KBP has produced a documentary film and a theatre production Sangeet Bari which ran successfully for seven years. We also produced a Lavani performance 'Lavani Queens' in 2018 & 'Lavanyavati' 2022 which was commissioned by Serendipity festival.

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The material and immaterial body on the threshold of consciousness. 3D co-participatory scenic arts and immersive performance project. The work merges art and immersive technology to explore and question the boundaries of what we know today by "human consciousness" manifested in threshold experiences. The territories of madness, dream, and death, whether in their accidental dimension or induced within the extensive studies on psychedelia, reveal to us an extensive plasticity of what we understand today by consciousness, which also seems to resonate in the research on technologies using virtual reality.

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Janaina Leite is an actress, director, playwright, and postdoctoral researcher at the School of Communication and Arts at the University of Sao Paulo (USP). She is a reference in the Brazilian scene for research on "theatres of the real" with award-winning works such as Stabat Mater (Shell dramaturgy award in 2020) and the project Scopophilic Essays, researching the relationship between theatre and pornography in works such as Camming 101 nights and History of the Eye - a porn-noir fairy tale. Her research focuses on hybrid languages, the obscene perspective that approximates theatre and performance, art and life, and diffuses borders between artistic practices and socio-cultural practices. Leite’s work has attracted interest outside Brazil, and she has been a guest in countries such as France, Spain, Portugal, Chile and Mexico.

janainaleite.com.br

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Dibubuismo for the poet Paes Loureiro "is letting the spirit work in its daydreams, while the body rests floating, "dibubuia in the river". The video-oriented performance entitled "Dibubuísmos" is developed from this concept, presenting a female body that throws itself into the river and lives a flanerie in the waters of the Pará Amazon.

Artist information
Marise Maués Gomes whose artistic name is Marise Maués, was born in 1964 in Abaetetuba, Pará, Brazil. She resides and works in Belém, Pará. Marise is graduated in Geography from Universidade Federal do Para (UFPA) and in Visual Arts from Universidade da Amazonia (UNAMA). She has a Master’s degree in Visual Arts from UFPA. Marise develops artistic projects using performance and photography as language, with emphasis on the creation of visual narratives and performative actions in line with contemporary art. Her research considers the social and political relations in the Pará Amazon, Ancestry, Environment, memories, cultural heritage, and gender issues. She has participated in Art Exhibitions in Belém, Goiânia and São Paulo (Brazil), Montevideo (Uruguay) and Marburg (Germany). This Artist was also awarded at the VI Diário Contemporâneo de Fotografia Award in Belem, Pará, Brazil.

instagram.com/marise.maues

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Ethnoscape is an audio-visual interpretation of five turbulent moments in South Africa's history. Beginning with the 17th century Dutch arrival, through to the first democratic elections of the early 1990s, Elvis Sibeko draws from what might've been heard and seen by the people who lived through the events. Through (re)imagination and translation of sounds and images, the audience is invited on a virtual journey and unique experience where the past and present overlaps.

Artist information
Elvis Sibeko is an internationally award-winning theatre director, choreographer, dancer, fitness instructor, and festival curator. Elvis holds a Higher Education and Training Certificate in Community Development Practice, a Bachelor of Arts Degree in theatre-making, and an Honours Degree in Live Arts and Public Arts at UCT. He has worked with local and international theatre festivals, production houses, as well as lecturing about South African dance history. Elvis Sibeko is also a highly recognized music producer and composer who has been creating music for dance theatre companies and theatre-makers/artists nationally and internationally throughout his career. His music has been used by well-known theatre-makers and theatre companies in their productions and played in many festivals nationally and internationally.

Elvis Sibeko is the founder / CEO of Elvis Sibeko Studios, diverting his artistic skills into five segments (ES Foundation, ES Records, ES Zavum, ES Danzatainment, and ES Productions).

elvissibekostudios.co.za

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In response to India’s current right-wing government's project of asserting the idea of a Hindu nation, this work brings the Dancing Girl from Mohenjo-Daro (c. 2300-1750 BCE) to life through dance and artificial intelligence. Through a choreographic play with the Dancing Girl, this work challenges the simplistic historical narratives attributed to it and sets up a dialogue with the inherently political act of history-writing. How does an artifact think and move for itself? Can the body of the nation in the 75th year of its independence be imagined as this irreverently playful artifact?

Artist information
Mandeep Raikhy is a dance practitioner with a particular interest in exploring the intersections between dance creation, performance, research, and pedagogy. He completed a BA (Hons) in Dance Theatre at Laban in 2002 and then toured with Shobana Jeyasingh Dance Company, London between 2005 and 2009. Since 2010, Mandeep has created several dance works, notably Inhabited Geometry (2010), a male ant has straight antennae (2013) and Queen-size (2016) and Anatomy of Belief (2019). These works have travelled across the country and internationally over the years. Besides creating and touring several dance works since 2008, Mandeep has worked to develop a supportive environment for contemporary dance in India through several initiatives such as Gati Dance Forum, Khuli Khirkee and the MA Performance Practice (Dance) at Ambedkar University, Delhi.

mandeepraikhy.wordpress.com

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15 years after the brutal events of February 2020 in Delhi, a nation reckons with the truth of what really happened. In parallel, there is the urgent matter of 72 arrested goats and an unfolding conspiracy. "That which is denied must be imagined" (Sartre). Set in an imagined future and based on real events, this is a project in narrative justice delivered via the performative. Using a satirical lens, the play questions the complicity and inaction of various groups involved in the denial of justice. Written and directed by Nisha Abdulla.

Artist information
Nisha Abdulla is a Bangalore based mid-career artist working in the intersections of theatre, community, and education. She practices as performer, writer, director, dramaturg, and pedagogue. Nisha is the Artistic Director of Qabila, a collective founded in 2018 that creates work with an anti-oppression lens and process, centring new writing and lived experience. And member of OffStream, a collective founded in 2020 that works on anti-caste art, history, and dissenting imaginations. Identity, Belonging, and Shared Futures are often strong themes in her work. Nisha was the recipient of the Sudkulturfonds 100 Artists Grant and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Voices from the Global South Grant, both for 2022. And she has previously been an Artist in Residence at Schauburg Theatre Munich in 2019, with support from Vila Waldberta. Her most recent production is wepushthesky, a play on faith and friendship that explores the listening body as a site of radical resistance. She was also visiting faculty at Drama School Mumbai and at Azim Premji University.

instagram.com/qabila_collective

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The project, I Am Not Just Me in Me is the first theoretical-practical application procedure of the new research object of Grupo Cena 11 for 2023 / 2024.

State of Nature: Theoretical-practical project to reconsider the practical and terminological tensions of the false behaviour / language dichotomy in the light of technology as nature. I Am Not Just Me in Me proposes an anarcho-choreographic counterpoint to the concept of "Brazilian People" in Darcy Ribeiro's work, modulating the relationships between alterity, identity, behaviour, and language for transduction in dance and choreography.

Artist information
Grupo Cena 11 Cia. de Dança was founded in 1986 in the city of Florianópolis – SC – Brazil, where it is based and operates in the artistic production of dance. Directed by Alejandro Ahmed, it is a national and international reference in the area. Resisting the structures that reinforce the processes of extinction of collective production modes. Over these 30 years of experience, the Group continues to contribute to dialogues, opening paths and fostering the perspectives of new generations of artists in the arts of presence. Betting on the intricacy between creation, education and training as ways of sharing the artistic knowledge developed in its trajectory, the Group created 16 dance shows, won 4 APCA Awards - Paulista Association of Art Critics in 1997, 2007, 2012 and 2014; a Sergio Motta Art and Technology Award and a Bravo! Prime de Cultura as Best Dance Show in 2007.

cena11.com.br

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In a land (not so) far away - the magical Sunderbans - living is about a fragile balance – between land and water, forest and field, domestic and wild, human and human, calm and storm. As each stakes claim on the other, as each encroaches upon the other’s space, survival here is possible only through stories and beliefs. Bonbibi is said to have come to this Land of the 18 Tides to help the people, the tigers, the deer, the trees…all beings that cohabit the land. But only if we agree to live and work together. And when she looks away, destruction follows.

Artist information
Tram Arts Trust, based in Mumbai-New Delhi is India's first dedicated Object Theatre company. We are dedicated to the study, evolution and propagation of object theatre, that finds expression from the cultural histories, objects and context of India. Our creations include Nostos (2011), Bird's Eye View (2011), Alice in Wonderland (2013),Objects in the Mirror are Closer than they Appear (2014), Dhaaba (2016), Oool (2018), Khidkiyaan (2020), and Maati Katha-Earth Stories (2023). As part of our commitment to building object theatre practices in India, we conduct workshops for young people, provide mentorship, and run training programmes for theatre professionals, educators and arts-based practitioners. During the pandemic we also began to support practitioners through micro-grants. Our festivals and museum-based engagements are designed to proactively build audience sensibilities towards experiencing ordinary objects as carriers of memories, histories and living cultures. Our work has been presented at festivals and venues across India and abroad.

facebook.com/tramtheatre

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The Ostracised Guardian is a musical performance that fuses ancient Kuladevata rituals with modern electronic music, directed by India's foremost music producer Tenma and performed by Gaana Muthu. This 45-minute show aims to showcase the forgotten collective consciousness of Indian villages to the world, taking audiences on a mystical journey of initiation and ultimate union with the divine. The main percussive background is the "Pamba," a talking drum used to punctuate interactions with the gods. The show combines drama and multimedia visuals to transport the audience to the heart of the trance-inducing rituals.

Artist information
Tenma - Artistic Director Music Producer
Tenma is an Artist, Composer, and Curator based in Chennai, India. With a background in Visual Communication from Loyola College (2008) and a Master's Diploma in Music Production from Point Blank, London (2011), he has been instrumental in the upliftment and development of artists in the independent music scene in the city. Tenma has co-founded two iconic bands - the Casteless Collective with film director Pa. Ranjith, and the Tamil rock band Kurangan. He also created two crucial platforms for indie artists - the Madras Indie Collective and Madras Medai. Tenma's music composition for the Tamil Film industry, which started in 2019, has garnered critical acclaim.

Gana Muthu - Singer and Performer
Gana Muthu is a well-known Gana and Playback Singer from Chennai, India. He gained fame as one of the lead singers of the award-winning musical group "The Casteless Collective." Gana Muthu has several hit songs as a playback singer and has been a finalist on the reality show "Singing Stars" aired on Colors TV channel. Apart from being an entertainer, Gana Muthu has established himself as a community leader and social worker, documenting the subcultures of North Madras on his Youtube channel Gana Muthu Media.

facebook.com/tenmamakesmusic

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Still Connecting... is a collaborative multimedia project where African students across the diaspora navigate time zones, rising data costs and perpetually loading screens in the name of connection. This is an ongoing investigation of the shifting political and social realities Africans navigate within digital spaces. Portions of this project have been made available to the public to experiment, to play and to grow the project.

Artist information
Faye Kabali Kagwa is a Ugandan-South African cultural curator. Faye builds interventions that go beyond artistic output and are interested in audience as engaged contributors to her work. This has allowed her to connect people and audiences across platforms and disciplines which include theatre, literature, film, and emerging technology. Her work is highly collaborative and involves different artistic voices.

fayekk.com

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Drawing from an investigation into the lives of women coffee producers and sorters in Pluma Hidalgo, Variaciones sobre el Café invites contemplation and reflection on the processes behind what we consume, as well as the feelings and thoughts that go through our daily actions. How much do we see of what's behind? It's a transition of bodies, of feelings between women of different cultures and traditions; of ancestral practices and daily life. 'Rosario told me that I could forget everything, even her, but not the taste of good coffee...' behind that taste there is invisible work.

Artist information
Graduated from UNIR's Master of Theater and Performing Arts. Creator, performer, stage director and researcher. Trained in contemporary dance, theatre and circus. Currently, she focuses her research on the mixture of stage languages to create pieces in which various contextualized disciplines dialogue with the current sociopolitical reality.
Interested in research related to the artistic as a way of sharing and producing stage action devices.

She is Co-director of the Mermejita circus A.C. Company since 2009 and of Espacio Mermejita, director and programmer of the "Brdes Escénicos" Festival.
Currently awarded with the SACPC Scenic Creators scholarship 2022 edition.

marianablancoarias.com

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Audiovisual adaptation of the homonymous play based on the novel Journey to the Centre of the Earth by Jules Verne, where teenagers tell us about their passage through adolescence in their Mexican communities; this is a journey inside themselves, where they show us that they are like volcanoes, that they may be apparently asleep, but inside they have a revolution about to erupt.

Artist information
Pequeños Creadores Teatro was created in 2013, it’s directed by Edith Castillo, Viridiana Gómez ""La Piña"" and Mariana Villalpando who, through it, focus on the management and production of theatre workshops, plays and meeting points created by children and teenagers. The main objective of this project is to provide, through theatre, tools for social-emotional development, contributing to the formation of empathic human beings who are also sensitive to the problems in their environment, properly managing teamwork and using conversation as channel for problem solving while they are involved in a creative and playful environment. The project is developed in 2 vulnerable communities in Guadalajara, Jal. Mexico. So far it has 6 plays, the organization of 2 State Festivals of Theater Made by Children and Teenagers and participation in Mexican festivals, as well as in Germany (15th World Festival of Children Theatre, 2018) and Russia (Ginger Theater Fest on line, 2020).

facebook.com/pequenoscreadoresteatro

About Voices from the South

Voices from the South is an international online showcase of performance work at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, co-curated and delivered with partner organisations from Brazil, India, Mexico, Scotland and South Africa.

The project involves 15 artists and companies from these countries who have engaged in an 18-month period of exchange and conversation while preparing to present their work online at Fringe 2023.

Works included in the showcase span theatre, dance, music and multi-disciplinary performance, and explore themes such as identity, community, social justice, labour politics, tradition and history, sustainability and nature, immigration and relationships, femininity and womanhood, technology and much more.

Each work exists within a unique context in the midst of complex histories and contemporary circumstances, yet similarities and shared concerns emerge across the programme.

While all works in the showcase are conceived initially as digital projects for the Fringe, many of the works are available for onward touring and presentation opportunities as live performances.

How it came to be and what it aspires to do

Voices from the South was inspired by conversations between the partnering organisations in 2021 that explored the appetite for, and benefits of, a purely online showcase at the Fringe.

Its name references the concept of a ‘Global South’, sometimes used to describe a grouping of countries along the lines of socio-economic characteristics. The (in)accuracy of the Global North/South terms notwithstanding, the aim of the project is to break down significant barriers faced by artists and creatives from the partnering regions – such as geographical, financial, language and access – to participating in the Edinburgh Fringe and accessing international networks.

Wanting to avoid the short delivery timeframe common to some commissioning frameworks, the group conceived of a project in which artists would engage over a longer period of time, peer-supported by a series of online ‘visits’ and sharing sessions while developing their pieces.

Over the course of project, each co-curating organisation has hosted online sessions offering insight into and reflection on the artists and their working process and methods, ideas and inspiration – as well as the realities of the circumstances in which they work and live.

The exchange and online sharings across time zones and language barriers were made possible by simultaneous live translation, allowing communication across language barriers. Final works by the artists have been translated and subtitled, allowing the artists to create and present their work in their native tongue to a wider audience.

The Voices from the South showcase was made possible by the generous support of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (with Arts Council England) and the British Council.

The Baxter Theatre Centre, South Africa

The Baxter Theatre Centre is a vibrant, multicultural theatre and entertainment hub in the southern suburbs of Cape Town. Since opening in 1977, the complex has continued to provide a stage for all types of professional performances – music, drama, ballet, opera and intimate theatre. We endeavour to present and host the best of South African performing arts. The objective is to reflect the cultures of all the people of South Africa on our stages and in our foyers and galleries. We strive to present cutting-edge and major works from South Africa and masterpieces from the international repertoire.

Pickle Factory Dance Foundation, India

Pickle Factory Dance Foundation is a hub for dance and movement practice, discourse and presentation housed in spaces repurposed for the arts in Calcutta – a space to think, meet, know, talk, imagine dance. We are an artist-led organization, working with artists, audiences and support systems to build a diverse dance-curious community, connecting to larger conversations of arts and society locally, nationally and internationally. Our big dream is a permanent such arts and community focussed venue in our architecturally textured home city that redefines relationships between movement and space, nurtures diverse communities, and reflects the plural spirit of Calcutta.

La Teatrería, Mexico

La Teatrería is an independent theater space located in the iconic neighborhood of La Roma in Mexico City. Since it opened eight years ago, it has been presenting local, national and international artists in its three venues: Sala A, Sala B and its unique Teatro de Aparador (window theatre). La Teatrería has been collaborating with UK artists and organisations, and particularly with artists from Scotland, thanks to the partnership with British Council, Creative Scotland and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society, tending a bridge between Mexico and the UK.

Magnetic North, Scotland

Based in Edinburgh, Magnetic North combines developing and producing live theatre with innovative multi-artform artist development; it is led by Artistic Director Nicholas Bone and Producer Anna Hodgart.

The four strands of our operating model – Production, Development, Residencies and Support – and our unique multi-art focus enable us to give artists support at all stages of the creative cycle, whether they have an idea they want to develop or a new direction they want to explore. Recent productions include Lost in Music, Aberdeen, and We Will Hear The Angels, as well as a revival of our acclaimed adaptation of Walden.

São Paulo International Theatre Festival (MITsp), Brazil

Since its first edition, in 2014, São Paulo International Theatre Festival - MITsp has brought key names of the contemporary international production to Brazil, focusing on performing arts experimentation . Therefore, the curatorship of MITsp prioritizes works that explore the forms and limits of theatricality and performativity, defiling themselves with other artistic languages.

Over the past editions, MITsp has proven to be one of the most important and expected performing arts festivals of Brazil. Not only did it respond but surpassed the initial expectations of creating a condensed event, committed to cutting-edge research in the performing arts, focused on national and international contemporary production.

The Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society

The Edinburgh Festival Fringe is a three-week festival of performing arts that takes place in Edinburgh every August. The idea at the heart of the Fringe is simple: anyone with a desire to perform and a venue willing to host them is welcome. The Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society is the charity established to act as the custodian of the Fringe. We exist to support, advise and encourage everyone who wants to participate in the festival; provide information and assistance to audiences; and celebrate the Fringe and what it stands for all over the world.

Dedication to Javiera Valentina Núñez Alvarez

Javiera was an actress, playwright, director, theatre researcher and teacher who took part in Voices from the South from the beginning with her new project, Mi Pequena Alejandria. She unfortunately passed away in January 2023, and will be warmly remembered by all.

Javiera was born in Santiago de Chile on 05 January 1983 and lived in Mexico City from 2007. She was a teacher in dramaturgy at the Colegio de Literatura, Drama y Teatro. She had a degree in Arts with a major in Theatre Performance from the University of Chile; a Master in Latin American Studies from UNAM and PhD in Latin American Studies from UNAM. She also completed a postdoctoral stay at the Faculty of Political and Social Sciences at UNAM. She had several academic publications in the theatrical field.

She has received dramaturgical training with Benjamin Galermiri, Marco Antonio de la Parra, Noé Morales (Mexico), Fabio Rubiano (Colombia) and Veronica Musalem (Mexico), among others. As an actress she has participated in various productions in Chile and Mexico, with directors including Guillermo Calderón, Raúl Osorio, Alejandra de la Sotta, Cristian Marambio, Adel Hakim and José Caballero. She won two playwriting in Santiago de Chile for the plays Tanto sabor a sangre (winner of the VI Festival de dramaturgia y dirección Victor Jara, 2004) and Sopa de Cebolla.

Showcase artists and shows

Amanda Tovalin: Música Verde (Green Music)

AnotherKind

Conquest of Bread / Conquista del pan

Corona Cha Tamasha

Deeper - demo version

Dibubuísmos

Ethnoscape

Music (historical, online performance)

Hallucinations of an Artifact

how long is february? a fantasy in three parts.

Theatre (satire, political)

I AM NOT JUST ME IN ME - State of nature - procedure 01

Maati Katha (Earth Stories)

Theatre (puppetry, drama)

The Ostracised Guardian

Still Connecting...

Exhibitions (multimedia, work in progress)

Variaciones sobre el Café

Viaje al Centro de Alhijara

Theatre (adaptation)