Programme Day 2A - 25 July

DUALITÀ (Rosana Maya & Debbie Falzon) - A FLOW OF CONSCIOUSNESS (Milu' Di Lorenzo) - THE FALLEN (Bíbor Tulipán Berettyán) - QOLLA (Sara Bianchi) - LA TERNURA (Pearl Calleja and Marti Blanco Romeu) - WATERKIND (Land Before Time)

Tickets for Day 2A entitle you to the performances at Spazju Kreattiv (starting at 5pm), followed by a performance at the MUŻA courtyard (starting at 6:30pm).

The performances at Spazju Kreattiv start at 5:00pm

Rosana Maya & Debbie Falzon (South Africa/Malta)

DUALITÀ

Date: 25th July | Location: Spazju Kreattiv, Valletta | Duration: 10mins

Synopsis:

Dualità: a Flamenco dance performance exploring how opposing realities coexist within human experience. Guided by how life is experienced through duality - an ever-present constant amid change - it explores emotional and conceptual contradictions like despair and joy, force and vulnerability, separation and togetherness. The performance presents the physical contrast omnipresent in duality through fl amenco; the expressive medium through which these opposites are embodied, exhibited and embraced. Initially separated, two women share the stage through fl amenco’s contrasts: soft and forceful, grounded and lifted, uproar and silence; water is poured, sand crunches underfoot, metal surfaces are struck, and voice interweaves personal and collective narratives. Expressed through movement, gesture and shared rhythm, division gives way to co-existence while disconnection expands into the opposite of listening, care and responsiveness coupled with simultaneous individuality and togetherness. Dualità affi rms the necessity to embrace life’s contractions; choosing to live collectively despite division.

About the Company:

Born in South Africa, Flamenkhoi began out of a deep rooted need and passion for preserving and sharing our rich and shared heritage; African traditional dance can be observed in the European hybrid art of flamenco. The company has an interest in sharing our love of the natural world and with it, our humanity. By fusing diverse forms, and exploring the duality in all creation, we create a powerful and authentic expression of our vast ancestry. The motivation is to find our commonality through the universal language of music and dance. 

We observe the world through duality, without it there is no life, no sense of existence, and we experience life through the senses and all observe the elements - water, air, earth and fire, the sounds created by nature and ourselves; the vision, obscured or true, in duality and diversity. This vision for FlamenKhoi is driven by the principles of cultural preservation, global dialogue, and social responsibility; valuing our heritage, cultural diplomacy, and the sustainability of creative industries. 

Rosana Maya & Deborah Falzon - Co-Directors, Co-Choreographers & Performers 

Rosana Maya and Deborah Falzon are flamenco dance practitioners whose collaborative works bridge performance, pedagogy and social engagement. Maya is a leading exponent of flamenco and Spanish dance, with decades of experience performing, choreographing and teaching across four continents. She is the author of The Flamenco Fanatic, founder of Alegria Academia de Flamenco and Dance Company, and director of multiple initiatives including NPC Flamenco Fanatic and FlamenKhoi, exploring intersections between South African and flamenco traditions, most recently premiering Dancing in the Dust in 2024. 

Falzon, a flamenco dance artist and transcultural counsellor, brings a community-centred and research-driven approach shaped by years of practice in Seville and Masters in Flamencología. She is co-founder of Dance Beyond Borders, an artivist with ARDA Collective, and a performer with Alegria Dance Company. Her work explores flamenco as a tool for empowerment, healing and transformation, integrating co-creation across performance, community dance facilitation and academic contexts. 

Credits:

Dance Company: FlamenKhoi | Co-Directors, Co-Choreographers & Performers: Rosana Maya & Deborah Falzon | Music: 'Kuele, Dancing in the Dust' by FlamenKhoi | Costume: Flamenco Fanatic by Rosana Maya | Production: Deborah Falzon 

Supported by:

Spazju Kreattiv

Milu` Di Lorenzo (Italy/Malta)

A FLOW OF CONSCIOUSNESS

Date: 25th July | Location: Spazju Kreattiv, Valletta | Duration: 10mins

Synopsis:

A Flow of Consciousness is a reactivated choreography developed through the practice of stream of consciousness. The piece unfolds as a continuous flow of movement emerging from unfiltered thoughts, emotional overflow, and inner contradictions. Rather than pursuing formal perfection, movement surfaces instinctively, shaped by uncertainty, repetition, and interruption. Three performers inhabit parallel yet distinct streams, where personal memories and external realities coexist. Images, sounds, and fragments of the outside world—political tension, collective anxiety, distant and familiar events—permeate the body, altering rhythm, weight, and intention. The work has evolved into a landscape where chaos is dense and persistent rather than playful. There is no clear beginning or resolution, only a sustained state of becoming. Through this shared flow, the piece invites the audience to witness how emotional weight, often silenced or dismissed, can take form, accumulate, and move—without explanation, hierarchy, or control.

Milu` Di Lorenzo - Choreographer

Milu` Di Lorenzo is a dance artist, choreographer, and educator whose work explores the relationship between bodies, spaces, and emotional landscapes. Trained in classical ballet and contemporary dance, she develops a practice rooted in movement research, improvisation, and the interplay between intuition and structure. She holds a BA (Hons.) in Dance Studies and an MA in Dance Studies (by Research) from the University of Malta, where her research focused on how creative movement unfolds in studio and site-specific spaces. Her performances and choreographies have been presented in Malta, Italy, the UK, Ireland, and the United Arab Emirates, including appearances at the Malta International Arts Festival (MIAF) and the ZiguZaij Festival for Children & Young People, reflecting an ongoing dialogue with diverse audiences, cultures, and environments.

Alongside performing and creating, Milu` continues to engage with residencies, workshops, and collaborations that expand the possibilities of movement as a form of emotional, social, and spatial inquiry. Her choreographic work and artistic practice are guided by curiosity, emotional resonance, and the pursuit of connection through the ever-changing flow of movement, with a commitment to inclusion and accessibility for all audiences and participants.

Credits:

Performers: Gloria Borge, Helga Kiss & Sarah Sammut | Choreographer: Milu’ Di Lorenzo | Music: – 'Verbal Fight' by Shukar Collective & 'Il cielo in una stanza' by Mina

Supported by:

Spazju Kreattiv

Bíbor Tulipán Berettyán (Hungary)

THE FALLEN

Date: 25th July | Location: Spazju Kreattiv, Valletta | Duration: 7mins

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Spazju Kreattiv

Sara Bianchi (Malta)

QOLLA

Date: 25th July | Location: Spazju Kreattiv, Valletta | Duration: 12mins

Synopsis:

This reimagined and modernised choreographic work revisits Qolla—the Maltese dance piece originally created by Tanya Bayona and inspired by the symbolic stone urn linked to ancient Mother Goddess traditions—through a contemporary feminist lens. Where the original placed one woman among three men, this adaptation casts four female dancers who collectively embody evolving facets of the protagonist’s identity. Through shifting movement languages and a newly forged dance idiom, the work turns inward: questioning, unravelling, and reconstructing the layers that shape both personal and Maltese consciousness. The dancers become mirrors, echoes, and extensions of the self, revealing how Maltese heritage, memory, and womanhood intersect within the Island’s cultural landscape. Rooted in Qolla’s narrative essence yet re-elaborated, the piece honours the original’s emotional core while carving new pathways of expression. It becomes not a search for romantic love, but for belonging, resonance, and self-definition—an embodied dialogue between past and present, Maltese tradition and invention, the individual and the collective.  This contemporary adaptation is choreographed by Sara Bianchi, with Nicoletta Pizzicotti as assistant choreographer and is performed by dancers from Company of Dance Arts.

Sara Bianci - Choreographer

Sara is the Artistic Director of Company of Dance Arts and a teacher and choreographer at the Academy of Dance Arts. She began dancing at the age of three under Daphne Lungaro Mifsud and trained in classical ballet (RAD) at The Ballet School, while also studying jazz, character, and contemporary dance. She later specialised in flamenco under Rosanna Maya, completing Spanish Dance Society and Alianza Flamenca syllabi and obtaining the Primer Diploma de Ensenanza. Sara was awarded a Comsec International Scholarship and a bursary to further her flamenco training in Spain, and later achieved Spanish Dance Society teaching qualifications IdB I and II where again she was awarded a Bursary to further her training in Spain. A founding member of Alegria Dance Company, Sara has performed extensively in major theatres, festivals, and productions locally and internationally. She has directed and choreographed Company of Dance Arts productions including Carmen, Beyond Redemption, and Romeo and Juliet. Sara continues her professional development through workshops and festivals and is an administrator of the Sharon Sapienza Foundation. She choreographs for various theatrical productions, festivals, including The Malta International Arts Festival, various events and also prepares dancers for international competitions, where they have won numerous awards and scholarships across Europe and the United States.

Credits:

Choreographer: Sara Bianchi | Assistant Choreographer: Nicoletta Pizzicotti | Artistic Collaborator: Tanya Bayona | Dancers: Santea Aquilina, Mattea Bianchi, Ella Sciberras & Sophie Borg Barthet | Principal: Rowena Grech | Costume Designer and Seamstress: Katrine Agius

Supported by:

Spazju Kreattiv

Pearl Calleja & Marti Blanco Romeu (Malta/Spain)

LA TERNURA

Date: 25th July | Location: Spazju Kreattiv, Valletta | Duration: 12mins

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Spazju Kreattiv

The performance at the MUŻA Courtyard starts at 6:30pm

Land Before Time (Sweden)

WATERKIND

Date: 25th July | Location: MUŻA Courtyard, Valletta | Duration: 26mins

Synopsis:

Waterkind explores the interplay and connection between two bodies without direct physical contact and is inspired by the movements of water, its flows, currents, and shifting forms. The work merges freestyle and popping elements into a meditation on receptivity, proximity, and space. The piece asks how we can experience connection and mutual understanding through improvisation and how vibrations, responsiveness, and subtle energy can bridge distance. Each movement emerges from the previous one, mirroring the cyclical and interdependent nature of water itself. The piece invites audiences into an embodied reflection on flow, empathy, and coexistence, drawing parallels between human connection and the rhythms of nature. Through its focus on water as both metaphor and movement language, Waterkind resonates with contemporary dialogues on ecology, sustainability, and interconnection within communities and the environment. 

About the Company:

Land Before Time is an artistic partnership from Sweden, formed by Joanna Holewa Chrona and Yared Tilahun Cederlund. Blending dance, deejaying, choreography, and sound composition, their work explores rhythm, connection, and the spaces between movement and music. Rooted in both local and global influences, they create performances that merge street dance traditions with experimental sound and improvisation. Land Before Time’s piece Waterkind was selected by Aerowaves as part of the Twenty25 Artists, and presented at the Spring Forward Festival 2025. Their work has toured internationally to growing acclaim, reaching audiences across Europe and beyond. Previous and upcoming engagements include performances in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, the Faroe Islands, Lithuania, Holland, Scotland, the Netherlands, Croatia, the UK, and Italy. Guided by curiosity, nature, intuition, and rhythm, Land Before Time continues to explore how movement and sound can open spaces of empathy and collective transformation. 

Joanna Holewa Chrona - Choreographer & Performer

Joanna Holewa Chrona is a dancer, choreographer, project leader, and DJ based in Sweden and South Africa. Her dance practice is influenced by various movement traditions, ranging from the technically demanding and politically charged dance style of popping from the US to isiPantsula, Sabar, and Afro-Cuban dance from South Africa, Senegal and Cuba. Joanna's passion and motivation stem from the purity, honesty, and freedom found in improvisation, as well as her love for music, connecting with people, and viewing art as a healing and revolutionary force. Together with Yared Tilahun Cederlund she makes up the duo Land Before Time to, co-founded the non-profit organisation AFIA with Theresa Gustavsson, and performs as a DJ under the name Shuwana. AFIA produces cultural events and stage performances, with a vision to honour and spotlight African cultures, particularly through the 'Afia Festival' established in 2016.

Yared Tilahun Cederlund - Choreographer & Performer

Yared Tilahun Cederlund is a performer, a choreographer and a music composer. In 2006–2013 Yared was active in the Battle scene, taking part in Streetstar (Sweden) and Juste Debout (France). In recent years, he has participated as a dancer in a variety of performances, such as Idiom and Drone by Erik Linghede, Mental States of Sweden in Dance by Mattias Andersson with the Cullberg Ballet, Raised on Rhythm by Niki Tsappos, and Festen by Viktor Fröjd, Kontakt by Lisa Janbell, "This That Unravels" by Björn Säfsten. He is also the choreographer of the series of performances PULS. As a music composer, Yared has composed works such as “Sorry” and “YES” by Bam Bam Frost, “YEBO YES!” by Afia, among others. Through dance and movement, Yared found connection and a deep interest for music and sound. His compositions vary from groove based beats to more fluid soundscapes and melodies.

Performance Trailer:

Credits:

Choreography: Joanna Holewa Chrona & Yared Tilahun Cederlund | Dancers: Joanna Holewa Chrona & Yared Tilahun Cederlund Costume: Joanna Holewa Chrona & Yared Tilahun Cederlund | Music: 'Waterkind' by Yared Tilahun Cederlund | Vocals: Ntsika Fana Ngxanga | Producers: Land Before Time | Distribution: Nordberg Movement | With Support from: Konstnärsnämnden, Region Skåne, Norrlandsoperan and Kulturrådet, Dalateatern 

Supported by:

Spazju Kreattiv

IMPORTANT

The programmes for Dance Festival Malta Day 3 (A & B) occur separately for which two separate tickets need to be purchased.

Dance Festival Malta is sponsored by:

APS Bank, Visit Malta, MAPFRE, Camilleri Preziosi Advocates, and GSD Marketing Ltd.