COLOURED SWANS 2: ELDORADO

In Coloured Swans, dancer, performer and choreographer Moya Michael questions how layers of imposed identities change how an artist moves, speaks, sings and what specific spaces their bodies visualise or occupy. Dance and performance are intertwined with mixed media, singing, video and speech.

Classified as a “coloured” person in Apartheid South Africa, Moya invites artists from a variety of disciplines and backgrounds to join her in this quest. Together they will share their personal stories in order to confront and intertwine the complexity of their experiences into one overall creation. Each encounter leads to a solo created for and with the artist as one of the swans of Coloured Swans.

COLOURED SWANS 2: ELDORADO

Moya Michael / David Hernandez
For the creation of the second solo, Moya will work with dancer, performer and choreographer David Hernandez. Points of departure reference David’s experiences as an American citizen and artist of Latino ancestry and the historic encounters between the Spanish colonialists and the indigenous peoples of Latin America and Mexico.

'With the performance series Coloured Swans, we delve into identity and multiculturalism in contemporary society. Eldorado, the mythical city of gold, serves as a metaphor for all kinds of quests for the promised land. This performance is a multidisciplinary performance. A hybrid of dance, theatre, music and image, just as mixed as its makers.' – Moya Michael

COLOURED SWANS 1: KHOISWAN
Moya Michael / Tracey Rose
Together with visual and performance artist Tracey Rose, Moya Michael will explore the common visual images that reflect their ancestries, their histories and where they are today as women of colour and specifically as descendants of the Khoi people.

'If we take 'external systems' to refer to all manner of classifications imposed on a body, then we could say that 'internal systems' refer to the individual’s personal responses to the outside systems. Our internal systems are developed over time, as a way to quiet or to amplify what is inevitably imposed.' – Moya Michael