There are performances, and then there’s Maraña—an experience that defies easy categorization. Part circus, part dance, part living art installation, this immersive performance blurs the lines between art, movement, and craft, wrapping audiences in a world where crochet, dance, and live music become one living organism.

For the first time, Lisbon’s Carpintarias de São Lázaro will host this hypnotic experience from May 15 to 18, 2025—six shows that invite spectators into a tactile, dreamlike refuge.

At the center of Maraña is a sprawling, hand-crocheted scenography by Chilean artist Paula Riquelme, who turned personal reinvention into art. After an injury forced her to pause her aerial dance career, she began crocheting as a way to keep moving. First a wall, then entire performances. What started as resilience became Maraña, a fusion of circus, puppetry, and physical theater where threads pulse with life and performers merge with the fabric around them.

 

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Una publicación compartida de Maraña (@marana_performance)

Riquelme’s work has traveled from Chicago’s puppet festivals to Swiss and German stages, but Maraña remains her most personal project. Named after her daughter’s playful nickname for her (“mama araña”—mother spider), it’s a celebration of transformation, both in material and meaning.

Now, Lisbon gets to step inside this singular universe. For four days, Carpintarias de São Lázaro will become a place where reality bends, threads tell stories, and art reminds us how easily the ordinary can turn magical. Get your tickets HERE!