ONISAJÉ
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Pedagogical Actions

Workshops

OJUINAN – Performer Preparation Laboratory

OJUINAN – Performer Preparation Laboratory

WITH Onisajé

SYNOPSIS

In this workshop, performers are invited to engage with the scenic laboratory Activation of Ancestral Movement, a process that contributed to the creation of the poetics of Black Candomblé Theater, developed by director Onisajé. Led by the artist, the sessions work with participants’ mind, body, voice, and spirituality in a synesthetic search for play, bio-scenicity (the performer’s scenic life), and encounter with their ancestral divinity. Through nonverbal exercises exploring concepts such as synesthesia, synergy, ancestry, and African rituality, the aim is to cultivate readiness, energetic expansion, and radiance—contributing to performer training and introducing other possibilities for theatrical preparation while bringing Afro-descendant history to the stage.

BACKGROUND

Onisajé is a theater director. She holds a BA in Theater Directing from UFBA’s School of Theater, an MA in Performing Arts (PPGAC/UFBA) with the dissertation Ancestry on Stage: Candomblé and Theater in the Formation of a Director, and a PhD from the same program with the thesis Black Candomblé Theater: An Ethical-Poetic Construction of Black Directing and Performance. She also works as a playwright, screenwriter, acting coach, educator, and researcher of African culture in Brazil, with an emphasis on Afro-Brazilian religions such as Candomblé. As a curator, she has organized national and international festivals and served on selection committees for artistic grants in performing arts research and creation.

A Little Chat

WITH Onisajé