THE VEIL
Services
Immersive Storytelling
Movement Direction
Client
Frameless "Bodies Unbound" Residency
Location
Frameless
Year
2025
Credits
Created in collaboration with Alexis Obue
Sitar samples for soundscape development: Saptarshi Monda
Music Production Consusltant: Joe Hirst
Photography: Abodid Sahoo
Developed during my Masters at Royal College of Art
Featured in
Choreo-Graphic Systems, Copeland Gallery, London, 2026
Bodies Unbound, Frameless Immersive Gallery, London 2025
Further developed at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, PTEQ Residency, 2025
Info
The Veil explores how patriarchal shame becomes internalised and expressed through the body. It draws on the artists’ own experiences with visibility, identity, and self-censorship in the face of social judgment. Blending digital projections with movement, the piece combines two contrasting dance styles. Kathak is used for its storytelling depth and historical resilience, having moved from sacred performance to cultural stigma and back again. Heels dance incorporates the stiletto, a symbol of objectification now reimagined as a tool of empowerment and sensuality. Working with somatic therapists, the artists examine how shame is stored in the body. Movement becomes a language for release and transformation. Concealment and exposure are not opposites but part of a negotiation between identity and protection. The Veil invites audiences into this emotional landscape. It is a powerful meditation on how women navigate agency and oppression through movement, and how dance can serve as both a shield and a form of protest.
CONTEXT
I developed the project’s visual and narrative identity through moodboards, storyboards, and iterative testing. Using TouchDesigner, I built interactive visuals and projection mapping that responded to performers’ movements in real time.
The soundscape in Ableton combined Indian and Nigerian motifs with live percussion and wearable bells. I structured a choreographic timeline, integrating Indian classical dance into contemporary movement to create culturally grounded, dynamic interactions. Audience testing informed refinements in timing, responsiveness, and emotional impact.
