MALOYA MOSHPIT

MALOYA MOSHPIT is devised and produced by Punctum in collaboration with key artist, Australian-Réunionese choreographer, singer and Maloya expert Muriel Hillion-Toulcanon, with assistant artist Carole Katz, renowned Castlemaine-based musician, composer and producer Justin Marshall, with associated performers Deepa Mani, Michaela Ottone, Joshinder Chaggar and Camila Serrano.

The Maloya’s origins lie in the creolisation of Malagasy, African and Tamil cultures from Réunion Island. The Maloya is a living performance practice, traversing 300 years of slavery, oppression and censorship to deliver one of the world’s most inclusive, resilient and evolving dance, music and song cultures.

MALOYA MOSHPIT invites audiences into an act of resilience that responds with revelry to our turbulent times. Merging an ancient, living Creole dance culture with House, Protest Techno and No Wave, it gives rise to a beguiling, participatory, evolutionary hybrid boom in a performance petri dish; one that spontaneously breeds acts of joy and pulses with cultural diversity, resistance, and resilience.

The initial development of MALOYA MOSHPIT was supported by Dancehouse in February 2022.

 

The second stage development took place in May 2022, as part of Goods Shed Arts and Castlemaine State Festival’s FURTHER Residency Program, which is supported by the Australia Council, Sidney Myer Fund, Playking Foundation and the Community Impact Fund.