Rough Cuts: Kueyen

As part of our Rough Cuts series of work-in-progress sharings, this dance theatre work weaves together Tango, Contemporary Dance, Theatre, and Mapuche cosmology to explore identity, migration and our relationship to the environment.

Female-led and intercultural, asking how cultures can coexist, what indigenous knowledge offers our environmental future and how dance can help us reimagine belonging.

Central to the piece is a reclaiming of female power: challenging the sexualised image of women in Tango through the lens of Mapuche matriarchal culture. Research has been grounded in direct engagement with Mapuche communities in Argentina and elder women from UK community organisations, centring authenticity and underrepresented voices.

Cross-disciplinary in form,  incorporating installation and indigenous cosmological frameworks — Kueyen is both a celebration of strong female leadership and an invitation to imagine living differently together.

Creative team:

Choreographer: Anna Alvarez, assistant choreographer Pablo Cortazzo

Dancers: Carolina Giannini, Cristina Cortés, Hannah Beltram, Gabriela Solano and Maeve Mc Greevey

Composer: Santiago Jarra 

Producer: Madeline Wilson 

Dramaturg: Xenia Aidonopoulou

Image: Munya Muchati