Francesca Matthys, Harry Theadora Foster and Marie-Astrid Mence
Resolution Festival 2025
About Francesca Matthys, Harry Theadora Foster and Marie-Astrid Mence
Aandag! (Attention.)
Aandag! (Attention.) is a captivating interdisciplinary work that begins with the maternal lineage, exploring the experiences of younger generations of immigrants to the UK from African, Caribbean, and Latin diasporas. It reflects on the fragmented or dissolved connections to cultural heritages caused b geographic and colonial influences. The work calls us all to attention, inviting us to reimagine and reconnect with their roots, while creating new rites of passage for future generations.
Rooted in the choreographer’s heritage as a descendant of the indigenous Khoi and San peoples of Southern Africa, Aandag! draws from the Stepping in Situ practice, which is in direct conversation with the Nama Stap Dance—a sacred rite of passage within her lineage. The piece blends fluid hip explorations intentional hand gestures, and earthy foot percussion, reconnecting ancestral movements with contemporary diasporic experiences. Accompanied by live music and storytelling, the work reclaims and reshapes cultural identity.
About Francesca Matthys
Francesca Matthys is a South African Interdisciplinary Dance Artist, Writer, Facilitator and Kundalini Yoga Teacher based in London. Her practice is rooted in connections to ancestral wisdoms through movement, text, inclusivity, collaboration and community. Francesca has been developing the Stepping in Situ improvisational and choreographic storytelling practice acknowledging connections/disconnections to ancestral wisdom, since 2020. She has worked collaboratively with arts organisations across South Africa and the UK including the Forgotten Angle Theatre Collaborative, JOMBA, Independent Dance, Serendipity Institute for Black Arts and Heritage and The Place, amongst others. Francesca is a Creative Research Associate at the University of Johannesburg.
Cast & Credits
Choreographer: Francesca Matthys
Performers and Co-Creators: Georgia Thompson, Nomakhwezi Becker, Patricia Olmo, Manuela Albrecht
Musicians and Co-Creators:Benjamin Jephta, Michael Mendones
Costume Designer: Mia Tongo Mesembe
Dramaturg: Ameera Conrad
Photographer/Videographer: Bilal Singh
Additional Creative Contribution: Xel Ortega
Adam
Adam is a solo about memory, trickery, and how we come to form an identity. In a clearing, the shape of one body appears. In this unfamiliar space, a body learns he’s alive; a child learns his favourite dance; an adult learns who else he might have been. A journey of discovery culminates in the conversation between these beings across one body. Could they all be a part of the same history?
Harry Foster is keen to dive further into unlearning who he is. With a body textured and shaped by dance, in Adam he uses the tools of movement to illustrate just how plastic we are. He believes our past selves hold the power to soothe us, hold us, and help us reimagine who we are now.
About Harry Theadora Foster
Harry Theadora Foster (he/him) is a dance artist and maker based in London. Drawing from autobiographical experiences and his practice as a poet, storytelling is central to his work, focused on capturing and reimagining human experiences. He believes that the reality and universality of the physical body is something that connects all of us, an important tool to bring people together in our divisive present. He is currently exploring the instability of his own identity in dance, and the themes of origin, gender and political identification. Why we are who we are is something that dance can articulate in a specific and unique way. He has been a dancer with Akram Khan Company since 2022. Past works of his have been staged in the UK at Lilian Bayliss Theatre Sadlers Wells, Linbury Theatre Royal Opera House, The Playground Theatre, and at The Point, Eastleigh.
Cast & Credits
Creative Assistant: Bianca Mikahil
Sound Design: Phil Wood
Musical Composition: Max Revell
Eves
"Adam can't get fooled twice. With the help of AI, you will find an Eve that will break generational curses."
AI and algorithms are everywhere, shaping our future. We may let it create our perfect partner and even our children, leaving human interaction and imperfections behind.
Eves is a dystopian fiction inspired by films such as Westworld and Ex Machina, exploring our culture's view of women, dating apps, and the power of AI. It follows the story of three women created to be perfect matches. These women represent us in a competitive environment, always racing towards perfection and productivity, asking for humanity.
About Marie-Astrid Mence
Marie-Astrid Mence is a performer with a decade of experience in the UK. She worked with esteemed companies such as Ballet Black, Phoenix Dance Theatre, and the West End, as well as in television productions. In 2016, she was recognized as "Dancer of the Month" in February by the UK magazine Dancing Times.
From 2018 to 2022, Marie-Astrid was a body double for lead actresses in dance series for productions including OCS, Disney, and Hulu. She also appeared as a dancer in Netflix's "Queen Charlotte."
In 2020, Marie-Astrid performed, wrote, and shared her story in the Nowness short film "The Truth of Being a Black Ballerina" by Rebecca Murray. In November 2023, she spoke at TEDx in Paris, discussing the notion of success and the courage to find our voice in an unfair and discriminatory environment.
Throughout her career, she has taught ballet classes and workshops to artists at all stages of their careers, including established companies and schools in the UK such as Rambert, Wayne McGregor, New Adventure, and Laine Theatre Arts.
Cast & Credits
Performer: Yu-Chien Cheng
Yu-Chien Cheng starts her dance training in Ballet, contemporary, and Chinese dance. In 2018, she entered Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance for BA in contemporary dance, received First Class of degree in 2021 and Simone Michelle Award for outstanding achievement in Choreography.
She continues her training by joining VERVE 22 and completes a MA in Contemporary dance performance in 2022. Throughout VERVE, she performs works by Akram Khan, Sita Ostheimer, and Alesandra Seutin. The three pieces toured nationally within the UK, including The Place (London), Dance House (Cardiff), Dance City (NewCastle), Riley Theatre (Leeds)…and more, and in Grand Théâtre de Genève, Switzerland.
Performer: Kriela Carmichael
Kriela Carmichael is a London based professional freelancer, dancer, model, actress, choreographer and assistant creative director from Baltimore, Maryland whose work spans across film, TV, live performance, multimedia production and branded content. She studied at Baltimore School for the Arts, Dance Theatre of Harlem, and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre.
