Beautiful Chaos 2.0
What happens when two artists from different backgrounds meet?
Beautiful Chaos 2.0 highlights the beauty, vulnerability, and connection that arise when differences are embraced and celebrated.
Blending dance, film, and spoken word, this unique performance explores the evolving friendship between two artists from different cultures, and the unexpected shifts in identity that come from learning each other’s stories.
Pirita and Thabo bega the journey with this work in 2019, paused during the pandemic then paused during visa challenges, and now returns with renewed energy and a powerful message about diversity and collaboration.
Join us for an unforgettable, intimate experience that goes beyond performance—inviting you into the heart and soul of creative discovery.
Pirita is a Finnish dance artist and Thabo is a South African poet and spoken word artist, both of them based in Edinburgh. Together, they blend their unique backgrounds to create performances that celebrate diversity, connection, and the power of creative collaboration.
World Premier at Lyra:
Saturday 20 September ,
14:00
& 18:30 with BSL
FREE, but ticketed! We have limited capacity!
Performance will be 40 min and have short Q&A moment where you have chance to meet to full team and hear more about the work as well ask any questions. This be relaxed short meet the artist chat.
Co-creator, choreographer, performer, producer Pirita Tuisku
Co -creator , writer, performer, producer Thabo Mokolobate
Stage manager, outside eye support Lucy Wilson
Sound designer Nik Paget-Tomlinson
BSL performer Benedetta Zanetti
Photography & official trailer editor Brian Hartley
Performance documentation Lucas Chih Peng Kao
Lighting Technician Sulie Wood
Stage Designer Valerie Reid
Work supported by Creative Scotland, Citymoves, Dance Base.
Meet the Team :
Dancer-performer & co-creator : Pirita Tuisku
Pirita Tuisku is a Finnish Dance artist living in Scotland. She has been working as a Dancer, Choreographer and Teacher in Finland, Scotland, South Africa and Hong Kong. Versatile artist has already over 17 years of experience working in different fields in dance. Her passion is to create work that will engage with audience, emerge with different art forms and bring alive topics from daily life. She gets inspired working in a diverse collaboration with curious and open mindset. Her own curiosity is about how she can push her own boundaries as mover. And also on the other hand she has always been interested about other cultures and how that is affecting our dancing. Time outside from dance Pirita has passion in upcycling Jewelry making and working as an Aerial yoga coach.
Poet-performer & co-creator : Thabo Mokolobate
Thabo Mokolobate is a South African Artist, Performer and Poet known for his storytelling and deep exploration of the human experience.His work focuses on themes of love, behaviour, and belief with the realities of social and economic issues, creating performances the resonate and provoke thought.
Thabo has unique talent for blending music and poetry into dynamic live experiences that both move and inspire.
If you could sum up your Beautiful Chaos journey in one word or phrase, what would it be and why?
'The coming together, even with the challenges that emerge with people from different backgrounds in the same space, there is beauty in the process of finding a way to move forward. Beautiful Chaos is the constant reminder that there is power in cultural diversity.'
Stage Manager & Outside eye support : Lucy May Wilson
Lucy May is a stage manager based in Scotland, with experience across both small- and large-scale productions. She most recently worked as ASM on Make It Happen with the National Theatre of Scotland, presented in collaboration with the Edinburgh International Festival and Dundee Rep Theatre.
Lucy’s professional credits span a wide range of roles — SM, DSM, ASM, and CSM — with companies including Dundee Rep Theatre, Tron Theatre, Catherine Wheels, All or Nothing, Starcatchers, Just Us, the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Edinburgh International Children’s Festival, and The List. This marks Lucy’s third collaboration with Pirita and Thabo, following her work on Beautiful Chaos (2023) and Hallowed Walls (2021).
If you could sum up your Beautiful Chaos journey in one word or phrase, what would it be and why?
'Evolution, because I’ve been part of Beautiful Chaos from its early preview days through to this stronger, Premier-ready version, I’ve witnessed — and been part of — its transformation. The journey reflects not just the show’s growth, but also my own evolution in learning, adapting, and expanding my craft.'
Sound design : Nik Paget-Tomlinson
Nik Paget-Tomlinson is a musician, composer and sound designer, creating work for theatre, dance and film. Nik has worked with a range of theatre and dance companies including Citizens Theatre, Grid Iron, National Theatre of Scotland, Royal Lyceum, Curious Seed, and Imaginate.
Credits include: Moonset (Citizens Theatre), Wickies: The Vanishing Men of Eilean Mor (Park Theatre) Rocket Post (Constellation Points) Doppler (Grid Iron Theatre Company) Niqabi Ninja (Independent Arts Projects) Revolution Days (Bijli Productions), Mixed Up (Imaginate and Starcatchers) Vent (SYT National Ensemble) Chronicles (National Theatre of Scotland/Project X/Thulani Rachia) Drift (Vision Mechanics)
To find out more please visit www.nikpt.com
• What are you finding interesting in the Beautiful Chaos 2.0 project so far?
'I have found the process of fusing the many distinctive elements of this project particularly interesting. In order to create the sound and music to accompany a story told from different perspectives I have utilised audio gathered from diverse locations including the west coast of Scotland, Sri Lanka and London. This combined with the assortment of artforms; movement, dance, spoken word, beatboxing and video imagery has been a particularly engaging process.'
BSL interpreter performer: Benedetta Zanetti
Benedetta Zanetti is a director, actor, filmmaker and writer coming from northern Italy.
She trained at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland on two courses: the BA Performance for Deaf and HoH actors (2021) and the MA Classical and Contemporary Text/Acting (2022).
A Deaf person and a Sign Language user, Benedetta is fluent in Italian, English, BSL (British Sign Language) and LIS (Italian Sign Language).
In her practice, she is passionate about feminism and exploring different perspectives of the same story.
Benedetta is also a non-professional dancer and, in her free time, she loves cooking, writing and spending time in nature.
Her Theatre credits include: Echoes Across Time (Edinburgh Deaf Festival), Mother
Goose (Gaiety Theatre), Second Person Narrative (Understudy, RCS), Zoe’s Peculiar
Journey Through Time (TheatreRites), FunnyBones (SFTW), The Last Witch (RCS), The
Dutch Courtesan (RCS)
If you could sum up your Beautiful Chaos journey in one word or phrase, what would it be and why?
'Journey is about travelling not only with your body but also with your soul. And to me dancing through life is a great way of travelling'
Valerie Reid : Set design
Valerie Reid is a designer and visual artist based in Edinburgh, working across mediums from print to set design, installation and cross-artform practice. She likes making art with other people as well as objects, computers and lots of paper. She has created performance designs for dance and theatre companies in the UK, Ireland and the USA, and is particularly passionate about experiential, space-driven work.
If you could sum up your Beautiful Chaos journey in one word or phrase, what would it be and why?
'It’s been fascinating to watch the work grow organically and stay true to the performers themselves. And it’s very satisfying to design with a concentration on colour and shape.'
