Part of SPECTRUM: A two year ŻfinMalta Artist Development programme supporting Malta based choreographic Artists

This evening’s programme

On the 6th November, ENCOUNTERS features the work of three artists who have been in residence with ZfinMalta for the week, alongside a guest performance by Pearl Calleja and Marti Blanco Romeu. Read more about the featured works below.

Simon Riccardi-Zani

Landscapes are an archive of our past and future experiences. They hold the history of where we are from and offer the potential of what to do next within their own limited resources.

Our bodies, on a personal scale, reflect the same principle and resonate as a landscape of our own selves. A container of memories, limited by its own nature, evolving at a pace we don’t have control of, but also, as a platform to expand, learn, and enjoy.

Landscapes and bodies share this fragile narrative, a fine balance that demiurgic forces trample upon the altar of productivity and profitability: using, throwing, digging, cutting transforming, fragmenting.

How do we survive when both landscapes and bodies are puzzled? What posture is adopted in this relentless rush forward?

Abigail Agius and Zoe Camilleri

A space of fantastical imagination, inhabiting an island often has a lot to do with dreaming: to dream of beyond, to wonder about what lies past its shores, and to exist in the tension of whether to stay or to go. Sifting through the sediments of this postcolonial imaginary, Zoe and Abigail gaze onto the horizon as a constant presence, a delineation marking what lies within reach and what remains afar. Picking at the hazy peripheries between desire and decision, sleep and wake, the duo, together with the ŻfinMalta dancers, navigate these liminal spaces within the body, in an exploration of the physical impulses which lie between dreaming, longing, waking and action.

Guest Performance

Pearl Calleja & Martí Blanco Romeu present a 12-minute contemporary duet, originally commissioned for Dance Festival Malta 2026, that reflects on the evolving nature of human relationships. Through movement, the piece examines how societal changes challenge traditional ways of connecting, encouraging moments of pause, critical reflection, and empathy. It explores care, respect, and equality, inviting audiences to reconsider inherited assumptions and envision alternative ways of relating in today’s fast-paced world. A delicate interplay of trust, tension, and tenderness between the two performers brings these ideas vividly to life on stage.

Following this event, two performances of ENCOUNTERS remain. Over the next two Fridays, discover new work by artists Gabriele Farinacci, Amber Van Veen, Douglas Comley, and Sarah Vella, all selected through ŻfinMalta’s SPECTRUM open call.

Alongside these exciting new creations, look forward to further guest performances, all taking place in the intimate setting of ŻfinMalta Studios.