A dance research on the intersections of queerness and non-western spirituality
On “Imminent Arrival”, Paula Pau (Malaysia) and Andras (Brazil)*Igor Meneses Sousa* come together to explore the performative aspects of their inherited spirituality in relation to their identities. Coming from two completely different countries that share a mutual conservative and colonial history, the performers are interested on how the individual religious heritage of their biological families resonates in their artistic practices as two queer femme bodies of color. In its early stages, the piece spiraled around the choreographic aspects of the themes and used movement notation and rhythm as means of composition, but in this research, the duo seeks to question it and broaden its frames using different methods such as dancing, singing, acting/speaking and music/sound production, in order to create an extension of the piece that dialogues entirely with the artistic skills each of them has to contribute.
Andras and Paula are two gender non-confirming dancers that come, respectively, from an Evangelic (in a Northern Brazilian context) and a Taoist family. Both religions, although conservative, carry a mutual relation to the body and the cult of Gods deities, with rituals* that may involve trance, tongue speaking, virtuous dancing and the craft of offerings – practices that in its most fall off of the European Christian perception of spirituality. Though really connected and foremost artistically influenced – musically, aesthetically and theatrically – by their contact with these religious communities, the lack of a less binary view on gender and sexuality in these creeds, has erased the performers’ LGBTQI+ experience and gender identities, but motivated the central question of this research: how do they relate with their ancestral history and principles of faith in relation to queerness?
Imminent Arrival was first invited to perform at the program Now & Next at tanzhaus nrw and later to SPRUNGBRETT <> TANZRECHERCHE NRW 2021 for further development and research at PACT Zollverein and tanzhaus nrw. The result of the research was a dance film and it was presented at the festival tanznrw 2021.
Concept and Performance by Paula Pau & Andras (Igor Meneses Sousa)
3D Animation and Camera by Lukas Becker
Video Editing by Lukas Becker & Paula Pau
Paula Pau 