Haris Ackermann | Santa MariKa

THE OTHER FACE [L'Autre Visage] - A short piece after Christian Bobin. "In our world, we hide the face. The body does not matter. The body goes naked beneath the sun—the fair sun that burns by day and burns by night. For where we live, there is no night..." --- This performance is both the result and the exploration of an encounter. Two, in fact. The first one, facilitated by @ensemble_not_found___ & @halfpacetheatre as part of the "Cross Pollination" program hosted by @chisenhaledance , allowed me to meet bright creative soul @vassilisawad for a series of rehearsals that took as a starting point our positionality as queer people of SWANA heritage. The second one, drawing respectively on their Greek-Palestinian and my French-Algerian background, was that of a mosaic of names and references including Euripides Laskaridis, Mario Banushi, Dimitirs Papaioannou, Toni Morrisson, Bernard-Marie Koltès, Alejandro Jodorowsky, Ruven Afanador, Sara Rajaei, Souad Massi, Derek Jarman, Łukasz Twarkowski, empty shoes, k!nk, rites of passage, gri€f, embroidery, flamenco...Fairuz... Albeit not all included in the piece presented during this public sharing, they took part in a creative dialogue which I am immensely grateful to have been able to develop at this point in my work. Thank you once more dear Vassilis for giving me the confidence to work on a text-based piece, for your gentle and insightful directorial look. Thank you for these [ethe]really gorgeous pictures @rosskernahan & @chewboyproductions --- "In the end, at the very end of ends, what will remain is the indestructible—the too light to die, the too fine to burn. Around this we will meet again, you and we. Together."

HELIOTROPIC. A short act about ch€ms€x & gri€f. "She said he used to love staying for hours under the sun. She said it made his body hurt less. I think she's doing the same. I guess it makes everything hurt less. Last time I saw her, she was asleep on the terrace. I wonder... I wonder what her dreams look like now." --- First set of pictures by @tdixon91 from @minkeltondramasoc 's anniversary event at @newriverstudios Last two pictures taken by @zrjphoto on the premiere of the act at @riversidestudioslondon as part of a fundraiser event organised by @twogreeneggsandsam @madjackstheatre --- An immense thank you to both events & gorgeous teams behind them for offering me a space to share a kind of work that struggles to find an audience in the gay & queer scene today, for it is anything but spectacular and entertaining. An act that brings together the d€mon of h0m0sexuality with a story of ch€ms€x-related d€Āth from the perspective of an old mother with d€m€ntiĀ sounds like the opposite of what you'd find on a cabaret lineup, for it is considered too exposing, for the audience as much as for the performer. Yet I have been sincerely moved to see how much very diverse audiences have resonated with this story. Which pushes me to believe that there absolutely is a way to shape & share the narratives of crĀving, gri€f and resilience that structure LGBTQ+ experiences. Beyond glittery escapism, this is what I like to put behind the idea of 'community'. A queer ambition to 'find a strange, twisted shape' beyond trĀumĀ and tĀb00 - in the words of @petraturtledisco This is not about nihilism. It is about collectively learning to face sunward. Resources used in the research process include work from: @sam.leader @justbenkaye @youareloved.cic @thisispopbaby @watchallout ☀️

(Re)Infested! Some glorious pre-show portraits by @chan.s93 from The LabRats' November gig at @thedivineldn Gratitude, gratitude! @labrats.drag And much love to our guests @liubovdoesdrag & @angara.flows xx

Great news! HELIOTROPIC is coming to @thedivineldn as part of a double bill night on June 15th! A very special opportunity for me to present it for the first time in an extended version, in a venue that has been very important for me in the past year-and-a-half... --- "In this solo piece somewhere between a drag show and a ritual of remembrance, Haris Ackermann explores the themes of ch€ms€x and queer survival, drawing on flamenco and butoh aesthetics to offer an intimate experience of the dissolved temporalities of gri€f, between the failure of memory, the impossibility to forget and the necessity to keep ‘facing sunward’. Blending together musical references from Chavela Vargas and Fairuz to Genesis P.Orridge and Diamanda Galas, they develop a poetic reflexion on gay culture, community-building and collective resilience." --- Tickets are now live, grab them via the link in bio! And see you in June... Thank you @nellybenhayounstudios for the gorgeous picture taken at @loveaffairbasement

POV: you finally found the kind of Sunday preaching you would actually attend and guess what it's at @loveaffairbasement and it's happening every Thursday until May 21st. Come and join the parish! And remember, my dear. You are a child of G0d... Video credit: @nellybenhayounstudios Thumbnail image: @tdixon91 #londondrag #queercabaret #queerlondon

Luz de Luna I don't usually perform in cabaret spaces without my feathered lashes and full drag face on, nor do I post videos of my performances, but here is a short clip from Week 5 of A Drag Love Affair at @loveaffairbasement , which I thought would be very 'instagrammable'. Improvising with a portrait of little me and the voice of my querida Chavela Vargas. Thank you @nellybenhayounstudios / @mercedesbenz1999.drag for your dedication to documenting our work week after week, for your kind words and support. Thank you angel @cazeleon for creating a warm creative space that gives us the confidence to bring more vulnerable material to the stage. And much love to Camila & all the LAB team. Two weeks to go before the final... Blue hugs, 💙💙💙 #londondrag #queerperformance #chavelavargas

NIGHTWORKS After a glorious night at @inferno_london , three hours of sleep & a 6-hour Grotowski movement workshop, I eventually had a BBQ chicken wrap before heading to New Cross Gate to dress up as a bride & dance on a Polish tango in a basement gallery. Thank you London for another one of these random sentences. And thank you to @growing.sideways for inviting me to attend their event at @cornernewcross , raising funds for @medicalaidpal

AKUTOKU - A Butoh Cabaret "It was a large room full of people..." - or the day the Nyan Cat met Samuel Beckett... My first time organising an event from start to finish around that oh so random idea of mixing butoh and cabaret in one show - on behalf of @posthuman_theatre & @butoh_company An immense pleasure to be kicking off the year at @thedivineldn in front of a SOLD OUT, and incredibly supportive audience!! Thank you @johnsizzle for creating and offering such a fantastic space to young queer creatives in London, thank you to the outstanding venue & bar team. An immense and wholehearted thank you to all the performers on this lineup @pretzel cage @kuba_pawelczak @viktchibor @nemicolette @lucymeringolo @goo_drag @thekarmaobskura @porto.kalcho To Juliana on tech & @dylallred on the door Thank you @alekkss669 for giving me the creative lead on this project that has taught me so much about producing, communication & curation And thank you to everyone mentioned above for your patience with my overwhelmed brain. Thank you to @emilybutlermoorphotography for documenting our happy mess through those stunning pictures Thank you @marienoonescollection for your support with costumes And to the out-of-this-world pieces of the @munstrumtheatre for inspiring the visuals of my 'host' character.

Orange Peel Some stills from the premiere of iFlash: Anatomy Not Found @etcetera_theatre_camden by @butoh_company @posthuman_theatre Thank you 📷 @revdlomax & @alekkss669 Video by dear @kuba_pawelczak Costume design: @maries_noonecollection Costume assistants: @haris.ack @lin_a_sarhan @mckennaireland @ariznelespace @amaryllis_lily_melody And a massive thank you and well done to @porto.kalcho @just_wanderlust_alice @aksanaberdnikova @modulej @kelvinatmadibrata @dylallred @lucymeringolo @nemicolette

GENESIS What a night. What a fantastic way to premiere this act. Some awkward encounter between flamenco singer Martirio, the voice of Genesis P.Orridge and Japanese taiko drums. An immense and wholehearted thank you to all the gorgeous human beings from @homoparody and @fingerzpresents involved in curating an outstanding lineup of queer talents & organising the already iconic Pick & Mix Cabaret at @rvtofficial , raising funds for @thelovetankcic @david_allwood & @rouge_ma_knees - thank you for allowing me to share my happy mess once more with an incredibly supportive audience, and for you kindness and care. Thank you dear @mischkesmemories for these STUNNING pictures. And thank you to this man on the tube called Jeremy, who was waiting with his wife at Baker Street station, saw a random twink with a mannequin head sticking out of his bag, thought it looked great, caught the same train as me, and took a few pictures on my way back home. Much warmth to you all ☀️

Bedtime Stories... @hausofoctopuss @tuck.play 📷 @meeri.aro