Lukas Avendaño: Requiem para un Alcaraván
Requiem for an Alcaraván is a performative dance rooted in the figure of the muxhe, or man-woman, a term that carries specific cultural meaning within Zapotec tradition. Through the concept of muxheidad, Zapotec culture holds space for gender expressions and same-sex relationships that both coexist with and disrupt patriarchal and binary structures, though not without contradiction.
A muxhe is a man who assumes roles culturally associated with women, in labour, love, care and sex. Muxheidad is both a veiled social recognition and celebration of transgression: sanctioned and stigmatised.
In Requiem for an Alcaraván, the muxhe dances and invites the spectator to participate in traditional female rites of passage: the wedding, la mayordomía, la curandera rezandera, the mourning. The performance culminates in a transformation: as the dancer embodies the alcaraván or berelele (Burhinus oedicnemus), a local bird associated with metamorphosis. In some versions of the bird's myth, the male alcaraván, once he mates, is sacrificed by the female - a symbolic closing of a cycle.
:::Presented by Take Me Somewhere 2025.
:::
Performance will be captioned
Lukas Avendaño is a performance artist, choreographer and anthropologist from the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, Oaxaca, Mexico. He works on the intersection between gender, ethnicity, race, body and violence in Mexico through performance, intervention and activism in communities. His performance work explores roots and experiences, such as muxes identity and gender roles.
In Avendaño’s words, “it is an invitation for the audience to become sensitive to the symbols and signs around them—those that flow through our everyday lives, in each moment. We just have to find the connection to that ancestral thought; only then does a new epistemology emerge—one that redefines how we understand and live life.”
Lukas has also used his platform as an activist to bring attention to the crisis of enforced disappearances in Mexico, a phenomenon that has affected approximately 110,000 people to date, including his brother Bruno.
Age restriction: Recommended for age 18+
Organiser of Lukas Avendaño: Requiem para un Alcaraván
Concession rate is available for Students, Disabled people, Seniors & Artist Pass
This ticket grants access to Lukas Avendaño: Requiem para un Alcaraván on Saturday 18th October 2025
SSL Encrypted
100% Secure
£0
Total (includes all fees)
Have a promo code?
The Boardwalk105 Brunswick Street, Glasgow, G1 1TF
FREE to £12
London