RUA / Bianca Mendonça

“GORJEIO”

Off-site: Maternusplatz, Rodenkirchen

Saturday 4 July 2026, 4.00 pm

An event as part of the Barnes Crossing anniversary year 2026

The green parrots have long since become part of Cologne’s skyline. Once blown here from the south, they have made a new home for themselves amidst the concrete and treetops. Their calls mingle with the city’s noise, their colours shine above rooftops and streets; their presence is a symbol of disruption and the exoticisation of the foreign body.

This tension gave rise to the dance production GORJEIO (Portuguese: birdsong). The performance invites the audience to a special open day – an ‘integration initiative’ in which we humans are allowed to learn from the parrots what it means to become part of a new community.

The international ensemble takes the piece to the streets and, together with the green parrots, opens up a space for personal experiences of migration, belonging and being a stranger. With humour and the telling of personal stories, this dance piece explores what happens during the integration process – from humans to parrots and from one culture to another.

Choreography: Bianca Mendonça in collaboration with Indu Das, Renato Sbardelotto & Marouf Alhassan // Music: Vito Oliveira Azevedo // Education & Dramaturgy: Gabs Carneiro // Costumes: Margareta Bartelmess // Production Management: Bianca Mendonça and Gabs Carneiro // Photo Documentation: Alessandro De Matteis // Production Assistant: Ayrbek Esen

GORJEIO is funded by the Ministry of Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, the NRW State Office for the Independent Performing Arts and the Cultural Office of the City of Cologne. It is supported by Barnes Crossing, Kulturbunker Köln-Mühlheim and KAPIWARA e.V.