Venuri Perera and Zwoisy Mears-Clarke face their complicities. Born on two islands oceans apart, they explore a shared inheritance of toilets and teacups.
Zwoisy Mears-Clarke (JAM) is a choreographer of the encounter. Looking at the question "What is it that's blocking us from meeting one another?", he uses the expanded potentiality of the performative space to confront the forms of oppression that sabotage human interaction both structurally and interpersonally. The intention of his work is to offer temporary environments that can suspend in an altered state the everyday duress of racism, colonial nostalgia, lack of accessibility (in terms of physical disability), and prejudice, creating opportunities to move differently, ideally all together. Currently, Zwoisy is based in Berlin, Germany.
Venuri Perera (LKA) is a Colombo based performance maker, performance artist, curator and educator. She is exploring contemporary approaches to performance making in Colombo, and her work inhabits a space in between movement, theatre and live art. Primarily trained in Kandyan Dance with Vajira and Upeka Chitrasena, she was a member of the Chitrasena Vajira Dance Company for 13 years. In 2008, she completed her Post Graduate Certificate in Dance from LABAN Centre, London where she received the Michelle Simone Award for Outstanding Achievement in Choreography. Primarily a solo artist, she has worked collaboratively with choreographers, theatre directors, sound and visual artists in Europe, South and East Asia. Her works have been featured in Performing and Visual Art festivals in the UK, France, Germany, Switzerland, India, Japan, Singapore, Australia, Myanmar, Turkey, South Korea and Bangladesh. Venuri was curator of Colombo Dance Platform 2016 and performing arts curator for South Bank Centre’s Women of the World Festival, Colombo edition. She is currently a visiting lecturer at the University of Visual and Performing Arts.
The evening further features short works in progress by the emerging Sri Lankan choreographers Rashmi Jayasinghe, Kanchana Malshani, Hasanthi Niriella, Pathum Dharmarathna and Gimantha Welegedera.
Concept, Performance - Zwoisy Mears-Clarke and Venuri Perera
Dramaturgy - Sunila Galappatti and Sara Mikolai
Sound - Isuru Kumarasinghe
Lights - Namal Jayasinghe
Production - Bandu Hewage
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