Orpheus in Underworld

Orpheus in Underworld is a contemporary version of the Orphean myth that fuses opera, dance, extended reality, motion capture and interactive technologies. This world premiere is co-produced by two Canadian companies: re:Naissance Immersive and the contemporary dance company, Belle Spirale.

Through an immersive exploration of digital and carbon existences, the performance dissolves the binaries people are bound to from birth until death, and strums the threads between heaven and hell, male and female, maker and muse, performer and audience.

The story follows O, a trans person whose sense of gender and identity is expansive — yet who has lived a fractured life. Haunted by past experiences and personhoods that have been suppressed, repressed, or condemned, Orpheus journeys to Underworld, an online virtual world, where they find the opportunity to express themself through avatars in extended reality. 

As O navigates the fluid landscapes of identity and technology, Orpheus in Underworld challenges to question: how does one navigate the vastness of identities in spaces that resist multiplicity?

Teiya Kasahara 笠原貞野

Brandon Thornhill

Leo D.E. Johnson

Dance House Helsinki, Pannuhalli Hall

18.9. & 19.9.2026

19.00-20.30

Tickets 20/30€ from Dance House Helsinki

Audiences are encouraged to arrive to the performance early to experience Underworld in virtual reality before the story begins