FΛRSΛ – Work in process showing

“Deceit does not require language — only misdirection. It’s the intent to make someone believe something different from what you know to be true.”
— Errol Morris

“FΛRSΛ” is a new creation by Catarina Miranda — a hypnotic performance for three dancers and a kinetic stage machine inspired by 19th-century optical illusion devices. It explores how light, sound, and movement shape what we see and believe, blurring the line between truth and perception.

On stage, two transparent silicone surfaces evoke a magnified skin — complete with pores, hair, and a nipple. Suspended by ropes and motors, these elastic membranes operate as scenic landscapes. The stage becomes an organic organism, animated by tension, pressure, and distortion — a living surface that reacts to touch and light.

The sound world, created with composer Jonathan Uliel Saldanha, mixes human voices, choral harmonies, and AI-generated tones into an electrifying, otherworldly score. A master of ceremonies channels multiple voices from a single body.

Immersive and visually striking, FΛRSΛ invites us to question what is real and what is imagined — transforming the theatre into a living dream where perception is constantly shifting.

Miranda is an artist who works across movement, image, voice, light, and space — exploring how the body can become a vessel for transformation and a bridge between dreams and waking life.

Their performances often create vivid, otherworldly landscapes and characters that feel both mythical and deeply human, blending sensory experience with imaginative storytelling.

From her stage pieces she highlights ΛƬSUMOЯI, CABRAQIMERA, DREAM IS THE DREAM, REIPOSTO REIMORTO and BOCA MURALHA, presented in between Centre Pompidou (Paris/ FR), Palais de Tokyo (Paris/ FR), Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation (Lisbon/PT), Serralves Museum (Porto/PT), Municipal Theatre of Porto (Pt), Festival Pays de Danses (Liège, Be), Festival Short Theatre (Rome/IT).

Miranda has presented the visual installations POROMECHANICS at Centre Pompidou (Paris/ FR), Festival Walk&Talk (Azores/Pt), São Luiz Theatre Lisbon, as well as, DIAGONALANIMAL at Fabrik Festival (Fall River/ USA) and MOUNTAIN MOUTH at Dance Box and Maizuru RB (Kobe/ Maizuru/ Jp).

Miranda has an M.A. in Choreography at EXERCE/ ICI-CCN Montpellier/FR and a B.A. in Visual Arts/at Fine Arts University of Porto. She studied Noh Theatre at Kyoto Art Center 2018 (JP).

Website: catarinamiranda.com