Weaving practices of rituals, spectacle and performance, Magic Maids offers the opportunity of a meeting between two characters who are sweeping. The broom, both a cleaning tool and vehicle of witches, stands here as a symbol of oppression and resistance. It represents an extension of the body and a path to transformation.

Eisa Jocson and Venuri Perera come from Sri Lanka and the Philippines, countries known for the extended migration of domestic and care workers. They dived into the European history of witch hunts and the direct consequences they had on the exploitation of female work. Magic Maids demystify the diverse ways in which the history of witch hunts is weaved into the global networks of care workers and the exploitation of the colonized female bodies.

With Magic Maids, the performers invoke on stage healing rituals. They see art as one of the tool of the fights for equality and freedom. Their rituals are intended to right the wrongs of the world.

Eisa Jocson is a visual artist and choreographer based in Manila. She came to contemporary dance through pole dance. In her pieces, she explores the entanglements of ‘gender’, ‘affective labour’, ‘migration’ and ‘corporeality’. She has explored the economies of pole dancing, appropriated macho dancing – a form of hypermasculine erotic dance practiced primarily in Filipino gay bars – and examined the expressive and movement vocabulary of Disney characters such as Snow White, a role denied to Filipino performers in amusement parks. She regularly presents her pieces at renowned theatres and international festivals in Asia and Europe, such as Tanz im August, TPAM Yokohama, Zürcher Theaterspektakel and Frankfurter Positionen. In 2018 she received the Culture Centre of the Philippines 13 Artists Award and in 2019 the Hugo Boos Asia Art Award.

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 were 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) Natsuko Tezuka (JP) (Kyoto Experiment/SIFA Singapore) Venuri conceived and curated the projects of the Colombo Dance Platform (2015-2020, Goethe-Institut) and is committed to continue creating support networks for the independent dance scene in Sri Lanka. A graduate of DAS Theatre, she is currently based in Amsterdam.