«Solo for Maria» tells the story of women in Mozambique who live within the tensions between individual happiness, social norms and real violence. Using her own biography as a starting point, the performer Maria Tembe first confronts the audience with her repertoire of movement and undermines habitual habits of seeing. In a sublime interplay, she not only exposes herself to the looks of the audience but also throws them back with full intensity. Choreographed by Panaibra Gabriel Canda, she then addresses women’s rights and experiences of violence, and dances against restricting rules and social expectations, creating a distinctive atmosphere of intense and relentless intimacy and closeness.

Maria Tembe was born in Maputo, Mozambique and obtained her training in contemporary dance as part of the project (In)Dependence at CulturArte, an initiative that supports temporary performing arts in Maputo. During this training she worked with choreographers such as Panaibra Canda, Martial Chazalon, Martin Champaut, Boyzie Cekwana and Carlos Pez. Following this, she performed as a dancer in various productions, such as (in)dependence (2007) and Borderlines (2010) by Panaibra Canda as well as Inkomati (des)accord(2009) by Panaibra Canda and Boyzie Cekwana. With these productions she was invited to perform at Maputo, La Re?union, HAU in Berlin and the Global DanceFest, New Mexico. In Switzerland she performed Borderlines within the context of IntegrART 2015.