HOODOO is bringing the folk magic of southern Louisiana to Berlin

For those not familiar with the spiritual denominations of the southern United States, hoodoo is the folk magic that the enslaved African population brought to America and practiced in secret. While it shares connections and geography with Vodou, hoodoo is a practice and not a religion, which means that it has interpretations that differ depending on how they are layered with other beliefs. The power of the folk magic comes from ancestors and the goal is to improve your life through conjuring. Nick Sample and Victoria Lucai’s Berlin show HOODOO, is taking the creole mysticism on the road.

“When you enter the show, you step into and active shrine,” creative director Spilios Gianakopoulos says in the entrance of the giant white tent of the Berlin Spiegelpalast, where the team is still setting up. The walls of the entry are lined with shelves, each one containing the shrine belonging to the members of the show, filled with photos, beads, stones and little personal artefacts of significance. As each completed altar is sacred, separate shelves have been reserved for the audience to participate in by leaving their own mementos. “What we are doing here is hoodoo. It is another attempt to connect to our ancestors, because they are a big part of who we are today and who we will become in the future. But a shrine isn’t exclusively about ancestors, it can be about loved ones who are still with us and they can be made for protection. They are filled with intent and they represent who we are and how we communally serve energy.”

The entire performance is a type of shrine as Nick Sample first conceived of the idea as a way to commemorate his father, Joe Sample, who created the Creole Joe Band that will be playing during the performance.

As soon as guests enter HOODOO, the performance begins as the entire space is used to reimagine a world comprised of different scenes that evoke the spirit of Southern Louisiana.  Actors move in and out of motel rooms and piano parlours while hoodoo masters practice with the audience in their dens, but the centre point of the tented maze is the large backwoods area where a nine piece band from Louisiana takes the stage, playing a mix for Rock and Roll, Funk and Zydeco. Berlin choreographer MJ Harper, who regularly collaborates with the city’s fashion designers like Stefano Pilati, sculpts the movements that mix into the dance floor between the guests.

But while the show is definitely a creole celebration, it does not shy away from addressing the harder moments that have formed what Louisiana is today. There are multiple references to Hurricane Katrina, which devastated the area and whose physical, social and political fallout can still be felt today.

Although it is a large jump from the techno temples of the German capital to this vision of the American south, the creative director sees parallels in the two cultures.

“Berlin has a lot of beautiful mainstream and avant-garde culture, whether it is music, theatre or nightlife,” Gianakopoulos says. “It is receptive of things that are beautiful in the world like equal rights diversity and peaceful coexistence – the same can be said for the essence of New Orleans that this show is trying to communicate.”

The immersive experience opens to the public on 10 April and runs until 19 May.  Afterwards HOODOO will find a new European city to set up in, because after all, hoodoo’s ability to travel well is part of what has kept the practice alive for hundreds of years.