Moya Michael: It’s like a Finger Pointing a Way to the Moon – Sophiensæle | Independent Theater in Berlin

Moya Michael: It’s like a Finger Pointing a Way to the Moon

A person moves quickly across the stage, causing the body to appear blurred while pieces of fabric extend outward in motion. In the foreground, a long illuminated strip holds many small rolled or curved objects, while light-colored fabric panels hang in the background.
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With It’s like a Finger Pointing a Way to the Moon, Brussels-based artist Moya Michael is presenting her work in Berlin for the first time. In a multi-faceted piece combining video, choreography and musical composition, she reflects on her encounters with !Amace, Be and their Ju/’Hoansi and !Kung families.

In the desert regions of Namibia and South Africa, which have been severely affected by climate change and drought, these indigenous San communities participate in the economic system by operating a “living museum,” while maintaining a lifestyle outside the labor and housing markets. Western tourists pay a fixed price to observe and accompany them in their daily work and practices of survival: hunting, crafting, making fire, preparing food and socializing.

Moya Michael, who grew up under the South African apartheid system and is related to the Khoi and San by descent, encounters the community as an outsider, whilst building a layered, nuanced exploration of identity and the plurality of self. In a non-linear narrative, she questions the cultural and economic “value” of a self-determined life in a world permeated by colonial and capitalist power relations.

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Ticket

The information on accessibility is still in progress and will be updated as soon as possible. If any questions remain unanswered until then, please feel free to contact the communication department at barrierefreiheit@sophiensaele.com or 030 27 89 00 35. Please note that details may change by the day of the event. Therefore, if you find out after you have purchased your ticket that the performance is no longer accessible to you, you can contact us for a ticket return at ticketing@sophiensaele.com or 030 27 89 00 45 until 5 business days after the event (Monday through Friday between 10am and 6pm).

Early boarding

If, for artistic reasons, the door to the auditorium does not open until very shortly before the performance begins, there is the option of early boarding.

Tickets

  • Reservations can be made via the ticket telephone at 030 283 52 66, Monday to Friday from 4pm-6pm
  • Via the online ticket shop
  • At the box office

You can also find more information about accessibility at the house here.

Creation: Moya Michael
In collaboration with: Victoire Karera Kampire, Simon Thierrée, Joachim Ben Yakoub
Scenography: Špela Tušar
Costume design: Andrea Kränzlin
Video: Victoire Karera Kampire
Sound design: Simon Thierrée
Light design, direction: Ellie Bryce
Sound: Patrick Van Neck, Bram Moriau
Dramaturgy: Joachim Ben Yakoub
Stage manager: Caroline Wagner
Production manager: Lise Bruynseels
International management, distribution: Cecilia Kuska
Thanks to: Amace, Be and family, Xoma and Xhao, Nashilongwe Shipwe, Jan de Villiers, Lindiwe Dlamini, Haymich Olivier, Jennifer Hays, Loren Davis Fisher, Igor Shyshko, Ife Day, Lassenne Vocale, and all the beautiful people we met along the way

A production by Moya Michael and KVS in co-production with WIELS, Perpodium, and Bergen Kunsthall. Funded by Taxshelter Of The Belgian Federal Government Via BNPPFFF. Never Work – International Performance Festival is a festival by Sophiensæle, supported by the Capital Cultural Fund (HKF). Sophiensæle is supported by the Senate Department for Culture and Social Cohesion. Media partners: Berlin Art Link, Missy Magazine, Siegessäule, taz.

Moya Michael is an acclaimed dancer, choreographer and mentor. Born and raised in Johannesburg, South Africa, and currently residing in Brussels, she has established herself as a bold interdisciplinary artist blending artistic research, movement, visual art and music to create multilayered live performances.

Ever-present in Michael’s work are questions around ancestrality and cultural lineage, which are illuminated through her emphasis on intercultural and intergenerational collaboration. Her ongoing partnership with KVS (The Royal Flemish Theatre) supports her creative endeavours and amplifies her distinct voice within the dance field.

Joachim Ben Yakoub is a writer and teacher, sometimes also operating as curator and dramaturg, working on the border of different art schools and institutions. He spends most of his time in the Kitchen, a collective study and workspace in Brussels. He is affiliated to the MENARG and S:PAM research group of Ghent University, where he is conducting research on the aesthetics of revolt somewhere in between Tunisia and Belgium and is also lecturer at Sint-Lucas School of Arts Antwerp. 

Victoire Karera Kampire is a Belgian and Rwandan filmmaker, sound designer and co-founder of the nomadic collective .contrapunctum. She holds a Master’s degree in New Media and Society from the VUB and graduated in audiovisual arts from the LUCA School of Arts. At the heart of her artistic quest is the notion of absence permeating her films at the border of documentary and fiction, with ghostly presences. She has just started writing her next film Ejo, produced by Graphoui, and is part of a residency program funded by Africalia. 

Simon Thierrée is a Brussels-based composer, violinist, pianist and orchestra conductor. He has to his credit more than 40 musical creations for stage performances and movies since 1996, in various styles and for instrumentation ranging from solos to symphony orchestras. He is part and cofounder of the composer’s collective NONE. He was selected as a French resident artist in Lebanon in 2021 and in Tunisia in 2022 by the Institut Français. He received the prize Wallonie- Bruxelles of the Proquartetto International Composition Competition for his string quartet Fantaisie en huit miniatures.

  • A person kneels in a dark space on a narrow illuminated strip on the floor. In front of them lies a stack of folded fabrics, which they are tying together with a rope. Along the lit strip, pieces of paper and small objects are scattered.
    © Danny Willems
  • A person sits on the floor within a stage space framed by hanging fabric panels, working with a piece of cloth or garment in their hands. The posture is calm and focused, with soft light falling from the front while the background remains dark.
    © Filipe Alcarvan
  • Two people stand on a stage in front of tall, narrow fabric panels onto which a landscape with trees is projected. The panels hang side by side, forming a fragmented image surface, while each person touches or holds one of the panels.
    © Danny Willems
  • A lit mound of sand sits in a dark environment, arranged with various objects: several upright incense sticks, beaded necklaces, small vessels, rods, and other ritual-like items. Warm reddish-yellow light highlights the center of the mound while the surroundings fade into darkness.
    © Filipe Alcarvan