Residency : Paula Almiron - The River and The Devil

by Meyboom on the 01 September 2023

The River and The Devil invites the audience into the ruins of a disappearing river.

During colonial times in the Bolivian Andean Plateau, the river Desaguadero and its uncontrollable forces were demonized as ‘the Devil’ by colonial settlers. Since then, centuries of extraction have dried up the river, transforming it from water to salt. In The River and The Devil, Paula Almiron reimagines the Devil not as a destructive force but as the guardian of the river, exploring resilience and the remnants of fragmented histories. The river has turned into broken pieces, hiding and moving towards us unannounced.

Combining dance, fiction and collective storytelling, The River and The Devil evokes a sense of living among ruins, asking what remains when a river disappears. Mythological figures and spirits that once protected the river linger as echoes in this haunting meditation on loss and endurance.

Find more pictures and informations about the project here.

"During the resindency at Meyboom, I worked on the text and the choreographic material of the performance The River and The Devil, that premièred in February 2025. I used the space as a rehearsal space, mostly alone, but also visited in different moments by the dramaturgical advisers David Weber-Krebs, Simon Asencio and Louise Vanneste."