About:

Project title: LAU (Language - Dholuo)_cloth|fabric

 

​Lau is a collaborative live performance project combining a traditional practice from the Luo people of Kenya, Omo lau, and Moko Jumbe. If a married daughter dies, her mother must go to her house and then when she leaves it, she must wear her daughter's undergarments. This will be blended with an element of Moko Jumbie (Caribbean/West African) tradition where the stilt walker embodies the spirits of ancestors, and there is a ritual robing which leads the Jumbie to walk and carry the spirit.

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Concept:

An underlying theme of the piece is that the clothing and dressing is a psychologically important act, that we imbue and derive meaning from dressing and wearing, that the “clothing” itself can have significance beyond the mundane.

Early in the development of this piece the artists are exploring different ideas from Luo people of Kenya and Caribbean/West African communities, elements includes dressing the Jumbie with the sticks, fabrics that represents the deceased clothings, firewood and grass of a traditional house, with linens from Alan’s mother, who passed away two years ago, and with an element of cross-dressing, across traditional boundaries. It is to involve original music inspired by eventualities of the figure woman from the Luo community. 

How the performance will be shaped will be dependent on the space (s) available, the idea is it starts in one location and then moving, so that the “audience” becomes part of a ritual procession.

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