Paula Pau & Andras Meneses Sousa , PANDORA

PANDORA is a dance performance by Paula Pau (co-creator and performer) and Andras Meneses Sousa (co-creator and director) that examines self-objectification through the figure of the showgirl, as both a form of power and of constraint. Taking the Greek myth of Pandora as its frame, the work draws on a narrative in which femininity is fabricated for the gaze: adorned, desired and feared.

At its centre is a trans showgirl figure shaped by Paula Pau’s childhood memories of Bangkok’s Kathoey cabaret scene. There, transfemininity appeared as glamour, spectacle and discipline at once: a visible and celebrated presence, and also an image formed through the expectations of others. In PANDORA, this ambivalence unfolds in direct exchange with the audience, where the showgirl is not only exposed to the gaze, but also enters and unsettles the circuit of desire and projection that shapes her image.

The stage becomes a contemporary Pandora’s box: a charged space in which desire, fantasy and fear are set in motion. Drawing on Thai cabaret, show dance, Chinese opera and ritual practices connected to Paula’s background, the piece follows a body moving between polish and fracture, image and presence, until the figure on display begins to look back.

Performanc and Co-Creation: Paula Pau; Direction and Co-creation: Andras Meneses Sousa; Sound Design and Live Performance: Trace Polly; Lighting: Jascha Viehstädt; Costumes: Sarah Santos; Photographer: Thomas Lambertz; Production: Sabina Stücker. 

Duration: 80 mins.

Language: English and Chinese with German and English subtitles.

Details on Accessibility

Audience Situation:

The audience will move freely within the stage space which will be devoid of any fixed seating. Seating for accessibility reasons may be booked with the evening’s staff shortly before the start of the performance, it will then be provided.

Sensory Stimuli:

Loud music and stroboscopic light effects.