ORGANISMO

An immersive performance that transforms an art installation into a dynamic sensory experience, blending contemporary circus, dance, physical theater, and live music

Based around an intricate wool scenography entirely knitted by its Chilean director, MARAÑA is an aesthetic experience that envelops the audience in an experiential plane, both organic and haptic. The colors, materials, sensations and sounds take visitors into a kaleidoscopic, immersive world.

“ORGANISMO” is a visually striking performance-theater piece, centered around a unique wool scenography meticulously knitted by its Chilean director. This immersive experience invites the audience into a sensory-rich environment where colors, textures, and sounds merge to create a living, breathing tapestry – where art, movement, and music converge.
Through collective momentum, this installation transforms into a living organism — woven from thread, hands, and bodies. An organic flow of movement, lighting and live music animates this entity. Bond by physical precision and blind trust, the five performers theatrically embody a collective pulse, with puppet theater, acrobatics and dance.

This 1-hour performance, ideal for theater and adaptable to outdoor venues, is suitable for all ages, cultures and imaginations.

“ORGANISMO” is a celebration of collaboration and interconnectedness, a powerful reminder of the collective breath —a shared experience that transcends the individual to form a unified whole.

 

“A performance that you have certainly not seen before – an evening that is difficult to describe and therefore simply should not be missed.”
– STORMANER TAGBLATT

 

TEAM – A multicultural team of artists from performing arts, theater, contemporary circus & contemporary dance

ARTISTIC DIRECTOR & CREATOR: Paula Riquelme Orbenes
PERFORMERS: Martha Kröger, Catalina Tello Aranguiz, Livia Etelka Mezei, Elli Berger, Kristina-Anne Francisco
LIVE MUSIC: Andres Aravena
LIGHT DESIGN: Luka Gyoha
MUSIC COMPOSITION: Andres Aravena, Kotoe Karasawa
OUTSIDE EYE: Ueli Hirzel
VIDEO PRODUCTION: Magma Studio Berlin
PHOTO CREDIT: Jens Wazel, Pablo Hassman

IG: @marana_performance
www.maranaperformance.com

More on the team…

Paula Riquelme Orbenes (CHL) – ARTIST DIRECTOR
Choreography, textile art She has been producing and directing circus shows for more than 12 years. As an aerial choreographer and director of circus arts, she specialises in the performance of aerial acrobatics. She has worked in the French-Swiss company ‘De Paso’ as a performer and assistant director (Ulrich Hirzel) and with others such as ‘Y Punto’, ‘Binomia’, ‘Cassis’ and ‘Balance’. In 2016, she was hired as an aerial choreographer for the opening show of the Gotthard Tunnel inauguration, directed by Volker Hesse, before moving to Berlin to create Maraña. He has lived in Berlin since 2017 and has been in permanent residency at Monopol (Berlin) since 2019, where he has developed the Maraña project and created various works with the company such as ‘Inside’, ‘Insight’, ‘UNK’, ‘Leg-Lag’, ‘Unfall’ and ‘Organism’ as well as the installation with aerial interventions ‘Wind’. Her installations are developed with the aim of creating performances that mix circus and dance.

Livia Etelka (FR) – ENSEMBLE Aerialist, dancer, producer, puppeteer
Livia studied aerial and contemporary dance (Santa Barbara Centre for Aerial Arts USA) in 2008 and has since worked worldwide as a freelance circus artist. For four years she worked with director Daniell Alnuma as a lead performer in contemporary dance theatre productions in India and under Gauri Devi’s production company Cirque de India. As artistic director, Livia curated an international circus collective ‘The Feral Banyan Circus’ for 3 years to produce full-length circus shows with live music.
Since moving to Berlin, Livia has been an active member of the circus community and participates in the funded collective site-specific circus project ‘Rebuilding Communities’ (funded by Draussenstadt and the Performing Arts Fund) as well as local cabarets in Katapult, Zirkus Mond and Monopol. She also performs with ‘Die Flugträumer’, an acrobatic and artistic circus troupe that performs at medieval markets throughout Germany. Livia works as a puppeteer with the DUNDU Giants of Lights Company, animating 5 metre puppets in Germany and internationally (World Expo in Dubai, opening ceremony in Riyadh, Cabalgata in Spain…). She is part of the MARAÑA Company, which created and premiered ORGANISMO with the help of #TakeHeart from the performing arts fund NEUSTART KULTUR in 2022 and has been on tour ever since.

Catalina Tello Aranguiz (CHL) – ENSEMBLE Dancer, choreographer and multidisciplinary artist
She graduated with a BA in Dance from the Universidad Academia de Humanismo Cristiano in Santiago de Chile (2013). Between 2014 and 2019 she worked with different companies, collectives and directors in artistic projects in Latin America, such as ‘KIM Teatro Danzante’ directed by Elias Cohen, ‘Materia Prima’ directed by Natalia Sabat and contemporary dance projects with Carolina Bravo. In 2019 she came to Germany and since 2020 she has been working as a dancer, choreographer and circus artist with the company ‘Maraña’ under the direction of Paula Riquelme, in the piece ‘Organismo’ and other productions, for various performances in Germany and other European countries. Since 2021 she is integrated in the company ‘Aqui Theatre Berlin’ under the direction of Lorena Valdenegro, as assistant director and choreographer in the process of the piece ‘Marta’. Since 2021 she has been working in the project ‘Cabuwazi’ as a circus trainer. In 2022 she worked as a choreographer in the play ‘Herscht 07769’ directed by Alejandro Quintana at the Rudolstadt Theatre. Her own project deals with the combination of contemporary dance and aerial dance and she has already developed three pieces: ‘Universe Umane’, ‘Dark Ocean’ and ‘Universe Umane/Multiverse’.

Martha Kröger (DEU) – ENSEMBLE (dancer, artist, actress, dance therapist) Martha is a performing artist with a focus on movement languages, dance techniques, improvisation and body expression. Rooted and born in Berlin, she is working internationally as a freelancer and in engagements. She completed her Bachelor of Arts in Physical Theatre in 2014 (Accademia Dimitri) and her Master in Dance & Movement Therapy in 2021 (Universitá Autónoma). She is an actress under Volker Hesse in Switzerland, France and Italy (2014-2017) and an actress in the ensemble of the Monbijoutheater Berlin (2015-2017). Since 2016 she has been collaborating with Paula Riqulelme for the interdisciplinary format of the new circus and dancer under Selina Thüring and Jordi Cortez. She realises her own projects, works dramaturgically and choreographically, and since 2016 has also been increasingly involved in dance mediation with a focus on inclusion and non-verbal communication.

Elli Berger (DEU) – ENSEMBLE (artist, dancer, musician) Elli is a Berlin-based freelance artist in the fields of circus, dance, music and performance art. She studied circus at the school for performing arts ‘Die Etage’ Berlin (2017-2019) and at the INAC (Instituto Nacional de Artes do Circo) in Portugal (2019-2021) and specialised in vertical rope. In 2021, she worked on projects in the field of new circus under the direction of Jorge Lix and Antonio Oliveira and collaborated with Cristina Leitão and Sandra Salomé for contemporary dance and physical theatre formats. She has participated in site-specific performances in Porto (Pt) and Cologne (De) in collaboration with Lucia Nordhoff, supported by fAUNA – habitat de criacao, Famalicao. She is part of the ensemble Maraña under the direction of Paula Riquelme and has been involved in the production Organismo since 2022.

Kristina-Anne Francisco (USA) – ENSEMBLE (Artist, Dancer, Yoga Teacher) Kristina is a Filipino-American theatre and movement artist based in Berlin. Driven by her passion for honest storytelling, she holds a BA in Cultural Anthropology from the University of Florida and is a graduate of Die Etage’s circus programme. As a member of Wise Fool New Mexico’s ‘SeeSaw’, she has performed across the US, exploring themes of migration and home through acrobatic theatre and kinetic sculpture. She is currently working on her personal project ‘How Will I Know?!’, an absurdist game show that explores themes of immigration and integration through news media, dance and aerial acrobatics.

Andres Aravena (CHL) – Music production and live music (music producer, composer, multi-instrumentalist and DJ).
He is dedicated to creating contemporary sounds inspired by world rhythms, natural soundscapes and electronic sounds.
Under the name of his solo project ‘Andi.Andean’, he has released around 35 pieces of music for 18 labels in 12 different countries and has performed at world-class music festivals such as Fusion (DE), Ozora (HU), Chateau Perche (FR). Own Spirit (SP) and Festival Nomade (CL) among many others. He has collaborated with music bands and performance companies such as Pasaje Universo, Aflora and Afrofluor and has been working with the performance company ‘Maraña’ since 2019. In fact, he is the music producer and live musician of the company’s piece ‘Organismo’.

Luka Gyoha (SLN) – LIGHT DESIGNER AND SOUND ENGINEER
Light and sound artist living in Berlin since 2016, trained as an electrical engineer and electronics technician. As a lighting artist, he creates unique lighting designs for theatre and music events. In the past he designed lighting elements for the Detect Classic Festival, Fusion Festival, Hütte Festival, and took over the sound engineering management at Vintage Warderobe, Pangea Festival. Since 2021, he accompanies Maraña as a light designer and sound engineer.