WOMAD

Osadia

From Spain

Surreal hair stylings fashioned by Osadia - great towering sculptures of colour and fantastic ornamentation, performed on volunteers from the festival crowd - were a favourite of audiences at WOMADelaide 2004 and 2005, and are bound to draw more big crowds anxious to sit in the troupe's grand barber's chairs displayed prominently in Botanic Park. Osadia is a street theatre company formed in Barcelona in 1996 by artist Alex Rendon, featuring hair as a platform for provocative artistic expression. Over the years, Osadia's coiffure transformations have taken place in street theatre festivals, public squares, parks, festival grounds, at indoor events and even at shopping centres.

Intrigued by the exotic appearance and theatrical presentation of the hair stylists, crowds gather and remain transfixed by the daring and evocative makeovers as participants are given striking new personas. Osadia takes particular delight that the transformation of volunteers extends to influencing their behaviour, as they become the centre of attention, provoke admiration and inspire countless photographs from the festival crowd as a consequence of their startling new look. These ephemeral creatures created by Osadia ensure that the show continues far beyond the barber's chair and becomes a vivid visual stamp of the festival.

http://www.osadiaonline.com