Charly Santagado 2026
Nohow

Charly Santagado

Nohow

17 to 21 February 2026

“Such helplessness to move she cannot help.” Nohow is a solo of speaking and moving inspired by Ill Seen Ill Said by Samuel Beckett. An exploration of movement that is unmoving, the wiggle that emerges even amidst the most baffling constraints, Nohow is an extension of Charly’s ongoing work with language and movement that seeks to call into question our heroic efforts to constantly do and perform, flirting with the potential impossibility of stillness and nonexistence.

During my residency at Uillinn, I will continue developing Nohow, a movement-based performance inspired by Samuel Beckett’s Ill Seen Ill Said. The work explores how the body can both reveal and obscure meaning, investigating how to remain faithful to Beckett’s stark world while also experiencing it at a deeply personal level. My aim is to expand the choreography and consider how lighting and audience orientation can shape the atmosphere of the piece. This residency offers a vital opportunity to immerse myself in the landscape and culture that shaped Beckett’s work, grounding the project in its place of origin. I hope to connect with the local community through open studio sharings, discussions, and collective readings of Ill Seen Ill Said. These encounters will invite audiences into the process, opening dialogue around interpretation, embodiment, and the limits of legibility.

“I am searching for a dialectical relationship that can synthesize my body and the text that courses through it. I see my work as an embodied conversation between stillness and movement, opacity and transparency.”

Charly is an interdisciplinary dance artist based in Brussels, Belgium. She founded contemporary dance company mignolo dance (mignolo.dance) with her sister Eriel in 2017 and recently earned her MFA in Dance through Bennington College. Her work has been shown in Belgium, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Greece, Israel, Italy, Poland, and the United States, as well as at many international film festivals. Her writing has been published in several dance publications, and you can learn more about her at charlysantagado.com.

@charlwhy

www.charlysantagado.com

Image: Charly Santagado photograph by Joachim Grabowski

Uillinn: West Cork Arts Centre acknowledges the financial support of The Arts Council  / An Chomhairle Ealaíon in making these residencies possible.