Servitude and sorcery: The plight of Southeast Asian domestic workers through the magic of dance

The Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP), in partnership with the Goethe-Institut Philippinen, presents Magic Maids — a powerful ritual dance that links centuries of fear, oppression and resistance among women. The performance runs from 7 to 9 November at the CCP Tanghalang Ignacio Gimenez (CCP Black Box Theater).

Conceptualized and choreographed by Eisa Jocson and Venuri Perera, Magic Maids intertwines the lives of domestic workers with the persecuted figures of witches, drawing compelling parallels between servitude and sorcery. Within its 80-minute ritual-performance, the broom becomes both metaphor and instrument — a symbol of toil, endurance and transformation. Through this familiar object, the production connects two archetypes — the maid and the witch — each bound by history’s burden of labor, prejudice and sacrifice, yet empowered through feminist resistance.

The dance performance serves also as a ritual, a collective retelling of the hushed stories of domestic workers in the Philippines, Sri Lanka, and Indonesia, providing a broader perspective on the exploitation of labor in the Global South likened to the European witch hunts.

Jocson and Perera, both born and rooted in the Global South, infuse the performance with profound cultural and personal resonance. Their collaboration becomes a shared act of reclamation — an invocation that confronts the haunting legacies of gendered oppression and celebrates the power of collective defiance.

Complementing the performances, Jocson and Perera will lead a workshop titled “Broomology 101” on 9 November at 11 a.m. at the TIG Lobby. Here, participants will rediscover the broom as a tool for transformation — an axis for movement, play and embodied exploration. The session invites them to merge, extend and awaken their physical selves through motion, engaging with intention and imagination while navigating the delicate spectrum between beauty and monstrosity.

Jocson is an interdisciplinary artist based in La Union. With a background in ballet, she drifted towards the contemporary dance genre and pole dancing, which continues to amplify her work and exploration of body politics and exploitation of migrant work in her own country, the Philippines.

Perera is an independent creator from Colombo. She has curated and produced projects of the Colombo Dance Platform and is currently a member of the Dance Panel of the Arts Council in Sri Lanka. Her works focus on the patriarchy, colonialism and class struggle, a reflection of her own experiences and the collective experience of women in her nation.

Performances for Magic Maids will be held on 7 and 8 November at 5 p.m., and 9 November at 8 p.m. Regular ticket price is P600 and student discount ticket is priced at P300 upon presentation of valid ID. Interested workshop participants can register until 4 November through this link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf3GUt_9AlzYuTEt31AiA-fhPT4A_FuctYhl1-Y4viMabAFjg/viewform. Selected participants will receive a confirmation from the Goethe-Institut.