Eisa Jocson & Venuri Perera
Magic Maids
Both archetypal female figures, “the witch” and “the maid”, are two poles of the same misogynistic matrix – despised and feared at the same time. In a solemn and sly incantation, “Magic Maids” demystifies the many ways in which the history of European witch-hunts intertwines with global networks of care work and the exploitation of the colonised female body.
International artists Eisa Jocson and Venuri Perera have collected the literally unheard of stories of care workers in the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Indonesia, the echoes of which now haunt their bodies. “Magic Maids” is both a ritual and a dance performance: by embodying the ambivalent female figures, the dancers pledge themselves and the audience to fighting against the invisibility of care work and structures that despise women. In an evening of dance, magic and struggle, the broom no longer symbolises oppression, but feminist resistance.
Concept, Creation, Dramaturgy, Performance: Eisa Jocson, Venuri Perera
Light Design: Ariana Battaglia
Sound Design: Soraya Bonaventure
Artistic Advice: Rasa Alksnyte
Text Advice: Ruhanie Perera
Spiritual Advice: Nenet Ocson Babaylan-Vaigaland
Outside Eyes and Ears: Arco Renz, Tang Fu Kuen
In-House dramaturgical support: Anna Wagner, Alexandra Hennig
Production Advice: Sandro Lunin
Technical Production: Seok Hui Yap
Producer: Katja Armknecht, Anne Kleiner
Production Management: Paula Elena Noack, Greta Katharina Klein
“Magic Maids” by Eisa Jocson and Venuri Perera is a production of Künstler*innenhaus Mousonturm 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 Media and the Hessian Ministry of Science and Arts. This project was supported with residences by Kaserne Basel, Puón Institute Philippines, Goethe-Institut Sri Lanka, Dance Nucleus Singapore, Studio Plesungan Indonesia and Colomboscope Contemporary Art Festival 2024.
With gratitude to the wonderful wise working women who generously shared their knowledge and stories with us.