Catharsis
In this concert, performance artist mandhla dives into the multifaceted spectrum of African spirituality, Afrofuturism, and trans* identity: With music, dance, and spoken word, the performance serves as a canvas for her own identity journey, intertwined with experiences of love, longing, intensity, intimacy, hope, joy, and death.
Visual media, experimental staging strategies, costume, and dance combine to form a captivating narrative: Traditional South African Ndebele fabrics and surfaces, alongside light and projection, create dynamic perspectives that merge into a physical experience with ambient, noise, and Ballroom vogue music. In a collaboration with two dancers, the performance will be expanded to include Afro-dance and voguing.
mandhla. is a trans-feminine, gender nonconforming, multi-media performance artist born and raised in Zimbabwe, Africa. As a current resident in Berlin and an avid performer for over five years in Germany she brings a blend of experimental R&B and Soul music intertwined with visual projections and performative dancing. Her music speaks of the daily trials that Trans*, enby and femme* immigrant bodies experience daily with love, identity, sex and acceptance. A strong lover of visual beauty, fashion, the art of voguing and music, and her work being displayed in various stages, festivals and artistic institutions such as Whole Festival, Pop Kultur, Munich Kammperspiele, Gropius Bau, Kulturbrauerei, and the HAU to name a few, she promises to bring to you an experience that takes you to a world of beauty and divine epiphanies through fierce queer representation and black femme* power that speaks to the souls that have lived and continue to live through her work.
Supported by the Alliance of International Production Houses, funded by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media.