Double bill as part of PLATAFORMA BERLIN 2026, 13th Ibero-American Festival.
Mai Júli Machado: In Between
The piece explores gestures of care and protection, tracing movements that reveal the tensions between vulnerability, security, freedom and coercion. It sheds light on the experiences of women at different stages of life and reflects on their processes of physical, psychological and spiritual transformation, as well as the challenges they face in socio-political contexts, which are often shaped by prescribed norms.
The significance of this work lies in its ability to evoke memories of the transition from childhood to adulthood and to denounce the socio-cultural constraints that limit the freedom of women whose ideas and experiences do not conform to established norms.
This work emerged from personal reflections on care, protection and the female life cycle, and was developed with the support of the ‘Immersion’ programme run by Compagnie Mathilde Monnier and the ‘pair’ programme (a programme for international artists); it has already been presented at the Kinani Festival in Mozambique and the Constellation Festival in France.
Genre: Dance
Duration: 30min
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Michael Gagawala Kaddu: Underneath climate cracks
My mother, Esther Meeme Nalubanda, comes from a long line of rainmakers. I remember her performing rituals to stop or summon the rain when I was little. As I grew older, she lost faith in these rituals and stopped practicing them. When she stopped, my childhood ended.
This interdisciplinary performance explores the vital role of rituals in relation to humans and the environment. As the tradition of rainmaking and other traditional customs slowly disappear across Africa, a wealth of ecological knowledge risks disappearing with them. This piece taps into that deep, generational understanding of nature's systems expressed through a rich tapestry of dances, songs, and rituals to question how we can use embodied knowledge to foster a more mindful, urgent connection with our environment today.
Genre: Dance
Duration: 50min
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PLATAFORMA BERLIN facilitates a unique space where new and ancestral narratives, ecological discourses, geopolitical activism and Global South ontologies emerge, inspiring and encouraging the Berlin global/local audience to reflect. The festival focuses on BIPoC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) artists and their lived experiences, exploring intimate expressions and ancestral connections in the twilight of geopolitical and ecological crisis.
‘To Curate’ means ‘to heal’ in Spanish. This is what Plataforma Berlin and its curatorial approach are all about: curating a space for the diversification of perspectives, of gazes, enabling a multitude of viewpoints and encounters across pluriverses.
The festival celebrates for the 13th time this year interdisciplinary works devoted to dance, performance, film, food, healing, critical thinking, and celebration with artists from Bolivia, Argentina, Uganda, Egypt, Iran, Colombia and Berlin.
PLATAFORMA BERLIN was founded by Colombian BIPoC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) choreographer, performer and curator based in Berlin, Martha Hincapié Charry. The festival is possible through the valuable partnership and commitment of our co-producer DOCKART and partners BARAZANI and South Embassy.