The Rite
a theatrical social experiment about women’s suffering
In the dance theater duet The Rite, the audience is taken along in a social experiment. “Who takes responsibility for this blood?” is the question the makers ask about the killings of women, ‘femicide.’
Zahira Mous and Ivana Berkhout explore the barbaric nature of killings of women in a poetic way in their dance theater duet The Rite; a death ritual.
It is an interactive performance, possibly different each time. The Rite starts with the ending: the dance of death. Will you be able to stop it?
In addition to the performance, there will be a short after-talk between the makers and the audience, moderated by human rights attorney Geraldine Moodley.
Soul Famine
Soul Famine is an absurdist, tragicomic performance art solo. Zahira's one woman show. She uses her theatrical talent, connection to the audience, movement, silence, and vocals to create an intimate and comical landscape and to explore the inside of a dark mind suffering from an existential crisis. Welcome to the funeral of mental health.
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Premiered in Amsterdam (NL) in September 2022.
Includes post-show dialogue about mental health.
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Reclaiming The Goddess is a dance production geared toward the empowerment of women and is aligned with the global #metoo movement. It consists of a professional presentation of contemporary modern dance with a parallel program for theaters and women's shelters. Reclaiming The Goddess gives people inspiration, comfort, courage and and understanding of how we can heal trauma through the body.
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Zahira created this project as she saw a need to turn a challenging life experience into something positive, 'turning poison into medicine.' In 2014, Zahira sought help to deal with her sexual trauma in Abadiânia, Goiás at Casa Dom Inácio de Loyolá, but ended up in the hands of a monster. In December 2018, Zahira appeared on Brazilian television to denounce the sexual abuse by famous spiritual healer João Texeira de Faria, formerly known as John of God. Zahira's story, after her interview on the talk show Conversa com Bial, was shared by the press around the world, including the New York Times and the biggest newspapers in the Netherlands and television. More than 700 women showed up, who also reported having been sexually abused by "João de Deus". Zahira became a national heroine in Brazil. Zahira decided to create the dance production Reclaiming the Goddess with her dancers as a means for healing and attention to this important subject.
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Includes workshop and post-show talk.