News

Voices from the South is a new international showcase premiering 15 new online performance works from Brazil, India, Mexico and South Africa. Presenting for the first time at the Fringe, the work featured in the showcase spans performance art, theatre, music, dance, digital and multi-disciplinary performance.

Background

Voices from the South was inspired by pandemic-era conversations between the partnering organisations – São Paulo International Theatre Festival - MITsp (Brazil), Pickle Factory Dance Foundation (India), La Teatrería (Mexico) and The Baxter Theatre Center (South Africa) and Magnetic North Theatre Company (Scotland) – exploring the appetite for, and benefits of, a purely online showcase at the Fringe. The project’s aim is to break down some of the significant barriers to participation faced by artists and creatives from the ‘Global South’ (a grouping of countries along the lines of socio-economic characteristics), including geographical, financial, language and access.

Rejecting the short delivery timeframe common to some commissioning frameworks, the group conceived of a project in which artists would engage across time zones and language barriers over a longer period of time, peer-supported by a series of online ‘visits’ and sharing sessions while developing their work. The showcase at the Fringe follows 18 months of exchange and conversation between the artists, during which they visited each other’s regions virtually, learned about the different conditions for the arts and delved into new practices and work processes. 

Partner organisations and shows

The artists participating in Voices from the South are originally live performance practitioners – some with experience of working digitally, others doing so for the first time. As such, their work investigates the possibilities – and shortcomings – of the online medium, and offers a radical rethinking of story-telling. Other themes include technology, identity, community, social justice, labour and working conditions, tradition, history, sustainability, immigration and relationships. 

The curating organisations behind this showcase are: 

The Baxter Theatre Centre

The Baxter Theatre Centre is a vibrant, multicultural theatre and entertainment hub in the southern suburbs of Cape Town. 

Shows:

• AnotherKind (Theatre)
  Amy Louise Wilson / Aphiwe Livi, Cape Town, South Africa
• Ethnoscape (Music)    
  Elvis Sibeko, Cape Town, South Africa
• Still Connecting... (Theatre)
  Faye Kabali Kagwa, Cape Town, South Africa

Pickle Factory Dance Foundation

Pickle Factory Dance Foundation is a hub for dance and movement practice, discourse and presentation housed in spaces repurposed for the arts in Calcutta – a space to think, meet, know, talk, imagine dance. 

Shows:

• Corona Cha Tamasha (Theatre)
  Kali Billi Productions, Mumbai, India
• Hallucinations of an Artifact (Dance)
  Mandeep Raikhy, New Delhi, India
• how long is february? a fantasy in three parts. (Theatre)
  Qabila, Bangalore, India
• Maati Katha (Earth Stories) (Theatre)
  Tram Arts Trust, New Delhi / Mumbai, India
• The Ostracised Guardian (Music)
  Tenma and Gana Muthu, Chennai, India

La Teatrería

La Teatrería is an independent theatre space located in the iconic neighbourhood of La Roma in Mexico City. 

Shows:

• Amanda Tovalin: Música Verde (Green Music) (Music)
  Amanda Tovalin, Mexico City, Mexico
• Conquest of Bread / Conquista del pan (Theatre)
  Community art collective Lxs de Abajo / Colectivo de arte comunitario Lxs de Abajo, San Juan de Abajo, León, Guanajuato, México
• Variaciones sobre el Café (Theatre)
  Mariana Blanco, Oaxaca, Mexico
• Viaje al Centro de Alhijara (Theatre)
  Pequeños Creadores Teatro, Guadalajara, México

São Paulo International Theatre Festival (MITsp)

Since its first edition, in 2014, São Paulo International Theatre Festival - MITsp has brought key names of the contemporary international production to Brazil, focusing on performing arts experimentation.

Shows:

• I AM NOT JUST ME IN ME - State of nature - procedure 01 (Dance)
  GRUPO CENA 11, Florianópolis, Brazil
• Dibubuísmos (Performance)
  Maurise Maués, Belém, Brazil
• Deeper - demo version (Theatre)
  Janaína Leite, São Paulo, Brazil

Find out more about the artists and their work on the Voices from the South website.

Voices from the South has been co-delivered between the partner organisations alongside Edinburgh-based Magnetic North Theatre Company and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society. The showcase has been made possible by the generous support of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport (with Arts Council England) and the British Council.