Theiyā Arts Dance Collective in collaboration with The Centre for Biomedicine, Self and Society at The University of Edinburgh present a new interdisciplinary mixed media performance – Maiden | Mother | Whore – exploring the complex relationships between women, social structures, health and social policies, and institutions. We sit down with them to hear more.
Tell us all about Theiyā Arts Dance Collective and what you do.
Theiyā Arts Dance Collective (TADC) is the South Asian contemporary dance arm of Theiyā Arts, established in 2020. We are a group of Edinburgh-based South Asian dance artists dedicated to using ‘Arts as Activism’ to spark dialogue on contemporary socio-political issues through South Asian arts, engaging with diverse audiences. Our collective members come from varied professional and artistic backgrounds, which enriches the depth and breadth of our work.
In 2022, we were nominated for Creative Edinburgh’s Collaboration Award, and we’re currently in a one-year funded Artist Fellowship with the University of Edinburgh and the Centre for Biomedicine, Self and Society. Our choreography isn’t just aimed at the general public but also engages academics interested in socio-political art and research-based artistic practice, as well as the South Asian diaspora.
Our portfolio includes productions such as *The Ticking Clock* (a contemporary-classical dance work highlighting the urgency of climate change, which sold out at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2022), *Still I Rise* (a collaboration with Glasgow’s Anahata Jazz Band), and *Daughter of the Earth*. We also curate classical and contemporary performances for community events, continually broadening our outreach.
You’re bringing a dance and multimedia performance work, ‘Maiden | Mother | Whore’, to multiple venues in Edinburgh and Glasgow this November. What is the show about, and what makes it so exciting?
Maiden | Mother | Whore is an exhibition with live performance that explores the complex relationships between women, social structures, health and social policies. Drawing on women’s embodied experiences and narratives, the work delves into the tensions between individuals-collectives, agency-power, and patterns of oppression-resistance through the lens of Transnational Intersectional Feminism. This collaborative project has emerged from a creative partnership between Theiya Arts Dance Collective (the performing unit for Theiya Arts) and academics from the Centre for Biomedicine, Self and Society at The University of Edinburgh towards opening a dialogue between the academic community, artistic community, and audience and was supported by The National Lottery Fund, Creative Scotland and Dance Base, Edinburgh.
The performance consists of five installations, including interactive elements like *Arroz con Leche*, a participatory game inspired by a Spanish rhyme, and the *Postcard Library and Minor Acts*, where audience responses to visual prompts become part of the evolving choreography so that their involvement journeys through the project in its iterative showings. There’s also the *Reading Corner*, which shares insights into our research process, and *Intersections*, a live performance that explores identity and power dynamics through a contemporary, intersectional lens.
What excites us most about this work is how it actively involves the audience, encouraging them to contribute to and shape the performance. This makes the production an ongoing dialogue and we are always excited to see how it journeys through the different spaces its showcased in. It’s also one of the few productions in Scotland that explores South Asian dance through a post-modern lens, moving beyond traditional theatre spaces and into the space of Arts-as-activism.
How did the Maiden | Mother | Whore project develop into the state it’s in now? Did it always look like this, or has the work changed a lot over the creation process?
The project has evolved significantly since its inception. Early on, the conceptualisation was more linear, but the integration of multimedia, audience interaction, and installations transformed it into an experience that pushes beyond dance alone and into something that reflects the complexity of exploring something as vast and diverse as gendered identities. Through collaboration with academics from the Centre for Biomedicine, Self and Society and our reflections on transnational intersectional feminism, we knew that this needed a multi-dimensional approach. This is how the installations, multimedia elements, and audience interaction components emerged. Over time, Maiden | Mother | Whore became much more than a performance—it transformed into an immersive dialogue between performer, audience, and society, shaped by the unique voices of those who engage with it. This also reflects the creative process that had become an ongoing dialogue—each collaborator brought unique elements that shaped the work’s final form and its continual development. What emerged is a production that not only moves through physical space but also invites audiences to engage, reflect, and respond in real-time.
In October, you held an Experiential Symposium about Maiden | Mother | Whore and arts-academia relationships at DanceBase in Edinburgh. What did you discover during the event?
The symposium highlighted a real hunger for spaces where art and academia can intersect, particularly around difficult conversations about lived experiences. It underscored the importance of centring artist voices in research settings, and of allowing space to engage with themes like capitalism, race, ethnicity, and colonialism. These topics are not easy, but there’s a palpable need for them to be addressed head-on in both academic and artistic spheres. We also discovered a collective desire for more such collaborative, dialogue-driven spaces, where artists, diverse communities and academics can exchange ideas and co-create.
Why is it important to draw on women’s embodied experiences and narratives within your work?
Women’s embodied experiences are at the heart of this project because they offer a lens through which to understand societal power dynamics, agency, and oppression. Particularly in South Asian art forms that we practice as well as the patriarchal structures we all engage with, women have often been relegated to symbolic roles—defined by their relationships to men (as a maiden, or a mother, or a whore). Through this work, we aim to reclaim and reframe those narratives, showing that women are more than these archetypes. This is about giving voice to lived experiences that navigate complex intersections of gender, race, class, and sexuality not just for us but for the audience joining us. Moreover, at a time when women’s agency and health policies are under the spotlight globally, centering women’s voices is both timely and necessary. By offering a transnational, intersectional perspective, we ensure that these narratives reflect the complexity and diversity of a woman’s lived experience in this society, rather than reducing them to oversimplified, one-dimensional figures.
What is your biggest hope for the future of the South Asian creative community in Scotland?
As choreographers our hope for the future of the South Asian creative community in Scotland is to cultivate a space where South Asian artistic forms can evolve and speak to contemporary socio-political issues, while also being accessible to a wide range of audiences. For example, Maiden | Mother | Whore is performed in a relaxed environment, allowing the audience to engage with its challenging themes at their own pace. Our reading corner is available as a quiet space throughout the performance, and audience members are welcome to enter and exit the performance space as they feel comfortable
Additionally, right now, we see the sector as divided into informal arts in community settings, professional artists (both performers and teachers), and arts organisations. There is significant overlap, with South Asian arts often embedded in community and celebratory events, which can result in a degree of insularity. This can limit the visibility of South Asian arts outside of these community settings, and when they do appear in wider contexts, they are often exoticised.
We see a gap between South Asian artists working informally and those looking to engage professionally with the broader arts sector. Our goal at Theiyā Arts is to bridge this gap, supporting artists in accessing resources, spaces, and wider opportunities. An example of this is our recent Co|Labs initiative and our upcoming event (Focus on South Asain Arts – A networking event) in partnership with The Work Room in Glasgow on the 15th of November. Our vision is to foster a collaborative, non-competitive environment that encourages artists to connect across disciplines and communities. Although this ethos isn’t yet universal in the South Asian arts scene, we’re beginning to see a shift toward a more collective, supportive atmosphere, which is promising for the future.
You can see Maiden | Mother | Whore next at Assembly Roxy, Edinburgh – 1st November 2024, 12 – 4pm, 7-8:30pm