Eisa Jocson & Venuri Perera , Sweeping Sisters

In a performative intervention, two women with brooms between their legs transfer the practice of sweeping into public space. Based on their theatre work Magic Maids, the Jocson-Perera duo continues their transgression, playfully sweeping out into parks, streets, and, for Claiming Common Spaces, into tanzhaus nrw’s Foyer. In the process, they reveal the charged imagery of the witch as well as of the migrant houseworker. Both closely connected to the broom. Sweeping Sisters asks for the invisibility of care work and celebrates female solidarity.

Eisa Jocson is a contemporary choreographer and dancer from the Philippines, trained as a visual artist, with a background in ballet. She exposes body politics in the service and entertainment industry as seen through the unique socioeconomic lens of the Philippines. She studies how the body moves and what conditions make it move – be it social mobility or movement out of the Philippines through migrant work. In her creations – from pole to macho dancing to hostess work to princess and the zoo – capital is the driving force of movement pushing the indentured body into spatial geographies. She is a recipient of the 2018 Cultural Centre of the Philippines 13 Artists Award, the Hugo Boss Asia Art Award 2019 winner, the SeMa-HANA Award 2021 (Seoul MediaCity Biennale) and, most recently, the Tabori International Award 2023 in Germany.

Venuri Perera is a choreographer, performance artist, curator and educator from Colombo. Exploring the power dynamics of visibility and opacity, she attempts to destabilise how we perceive the ‘other.’ Her solo and collaborative creations deal with violent nationalism, patriarchy, immigration, colonial heritage and class and have been invited to festivals/biennales/symposia across Europe, South and East Asia, Middle East and Africa since 2008. She has closely collaborated with choreographers Geumhyung Jeong (SK) (Theatre Spektakel/ Monsoon Australia), and Natsuko Tezuka (JP) (Kyoto Experiment/SIFA Singapore). Venuri conceived and curated the projects of the Colombo Dance Platform (2015-2020, Goethe Institute) and is committed to continually creating support networks for the independent dance scene in Sri Lanka. A graduate of DAS Theatre, she is currently based in Amsterdam.