Xilopango

Xilopango is a contemporary dance work that explores intergenerational memory, migration, and matrilineal resilience through a Central American lens. Inspired by Salvadorian volcanic landscapes and historic memory, the work brings together movement, live vocals, and immersive design to embody the emotional and physical terrains shaped by displacement, and the wounds a family carries from forced disappearance.

Accessibility Support:
Theatre Passe Muraille and South of Your Feet have collaborated to offer a limited number of vibrotactile pillows by VibraFusion Lab as an accessibility support for Deaf and hard-of-hearing audience members, as well as folx with access needs who may benefit from experiencing sound through vibration. Pillows are available on a first-come, first-served basis for audience members with access needs.

September 24, 2026 at 7:30 PM
September 25, 2026 at 7:30 PM
September 26, 2026 at 7:30 PM

20 min Talkback after September 25th performance.
Sensory and/or Content Warnings: Nudity, loud bass levels, darkness

“I was raised to remember why I was here on this land”

Irma Villafuerte

“When I saw Xilopango at SummerWorks last year, I knew we needed to present this work to our RUTAS’ audiences. The piece digs deeply into a personal story, becoming at the same time the story of many in El Salvador and beyond. This complex, provocative and visually astounding piece takes interdisciplinary dance theatre to a new level.”

Beatriz Pizano, Aluna Theatre Artistic Director

About the artist

Irma Villafuerte – Concept, Direction, Set Design, Choreography, Performance

Irma Villafuerte is a Tkaronto-based dance artist, educator, and choreographer, and first-generation daughter of refugees from Nawat Territory, Kuskatan (El Salvador). Her work explores stories of migration, historic memory, and Salvadorian identity. She co-founded the Dora-nominated CinnaMoon Collective and directs Native Earth’s Animikiig Creators Unit. Irma has performed across the Americas, including at Fall for Dance North, Bienal de la Habana, and CounterPulse (San Francisco). She’s developed her choreographic voice through residencies with Dance Makers, Toronto Dance Theatre, and Aluna Theatre. Her works include nudoDESnudo and the dance film Siwat Piedra.
Photo Credit: Andre Linares

Alejandro Ronceria – Creative Mentor and Dramaturg
Alejandro Ronceria is a Colombian-born director, choreographer, and dramaturg with over 30 years shaping Indigenous and multidisciplinary performance. Known for centering land-based and ritual-driven dramaturgy, his work has been presented at the National Arts Centre, Banff Centre, and internationally. He blends cinematic staging and physical storytelling rooted in ancestral knowledge. Alejandro has mentored countless artists across Turtle Island and continues to challenge colonial frameworks within the performing arts. His contribution to Xilopango as a creative mentor and dramaturg deepens the piece’s connection to embodied memory, land, and culturally grounded transformation.

Jessica Zepeda – Performer
Jessica Zepeda is a multidisciplinary performer from Tkaronto with roots in Kuskatan (El Salvador). A member of Native Earth’s Animikiig Unit and 2024/25 Buddies Queer Emerging Artist recipient, Jessica’s work blends folklore, migration, and queer identity. Their short films include Sinvergüenzilla in First Kiss and Saturday Fuego Diablo. In 2025, they presented mi historia que no es única at the Rhubarb Festival—a documentary-theatre solo. Jessica explores genre-fluid, testimonial performance rooted in ancestral memory and transformation.

Victoria Mata – Performer
Victoria Mata is a Venezuelan-Canadian choreographer, dance artist, and activist based in Tkaronto. With a background in expressive arts therapy and a poly-lingual practice, Mata’s work bridges continents, disciplines, and communities. Her choreography explores migration, women’s resistance, and decolonial healing. She holds an MFA in Contemporary Choreography and is a Dora-nominated artist and Metcalf Foundation recipient. Mata’s work is rooted in inclusive, intersectional frameworks that dismantle oppressive tropes through play, ritual, and movement.

Jillia Cato – Performer and Production Manager
Jillia Cato is a multidisciplinary artist, stage manager, choreographer, and educator with deep roots in Caribbean performance traditions. She has worked with KasheDance, taught Afro-Contemporary dance at Centennial College, and managed productions for Luminato, Flight Festival, and the National Theatre Arts Company of Trinidad and Tobago. Jillia’s practice centers collaboration, cultural care, and inclusive artistic leadership. Her stage management style prioritizes communication, clarity, and community.

David Ariza – Music Director, Composer, Sound Engineer
David Ariza is a Colombian-born, Juno Award-winning music producer, composer and interdisciplinary artist based in Tkaronto. His work fuses indie psych-latin, hip-hop, and experimental textures to explore identity, trauma, and spiritual transformation. David has collaborated with artists like Jayda G, Tanya Tagaq, and Charmaine, and is the creator of innerpeaceouterspace, a multidisciplinary project merging music, fashion, and philosophy.

Sebastian Marziali – Lighting Designer
Sebastian Marziali is an award-winning Uruguayan-Canadian lighting and set designer based in Tkaronto. Their practice spans burlesque, dance, theatre, and installation, with a focus on access-centered, multidisciplinary design. Recent credits include Homelands for Kaha:wi Dance, Convictions and Les Zinspiré.e.s for Théâtre français de Toronto, and Quartet with Other Hearts Collective, for which they received a 2024 Dora nomination. Sebastian’s approach treats design as a storytelling collaborator.

Abi Cudjoe – Costume Designer and Set Design
Abi Cudjoe is a Tkaronto-based multidisciplinary artist, designer, and facilitator of Akan (Ashanti) descent. Their practice blends textile work, visual art, and movement with a decolonial approach rooted in disability justice, gender fluidity, and play. Abi’s work centres body euphoria, offering garment design, upcycling, and alterations that celebrate identity and expression. Their visual language speaks across time, kinship, and ancestral memory. Learn more at: www.abicudjoe.com.

Nickeshia Garrick – Rehearsal Director
Nickeshia Garrick is a Black, queer performing artist and settler on the stolen land of Tsi Tkarón:to (Toronto), where they have created and performed for over 25 years. Their practice centers breath, raw emotion, movement, and storytelling as tools for healing and connection.
An award-winning, multi-nominated artist, Nickeshia is a co-founder of the two-time Dora-nominated CinnaMoon Collective. They are currently developing the next iteration of their solo work, The Ties that Bind us, The Ties that Bond us, recently shared through Toronto Dance Theatre’s Eyes on Beginnings at the Winchester Street Theatre. Community care remains central to their practice, including free movement and creation workshops with the Jamii on the Esplanade community.

Emilie Jabouin – Research Assistant
Emilie “Zila” Jabouin is a Haitian-Canadian dance artist, researcher, and PhD in Communication Studies. Her work weaves dance, folklore, and storytelling to amplify under-told histories and collective liberation. Founder of Do Gwe dance and research, Emilie merges archival practice with performance, offering production, research, and consulting services to artists. Her practice is rooted in Haitian singing, drumming, and oral tradition.

Lilibeth Rivas – Stage Manager
Salvadoran actor and consultant of artistic projects focused on human rights. Founder of La Zebra Teatro and Proyecto Dioniso, both Salvadoran theater companies. In El Salvador, she directed artistic projects with IOM (International Organization for Migration), MCC (Millennium Challenge Corporation), UNHCR (United Nations Refugee Agency), Ford Foundation, among others. Awarded by Fundación Poma “Ovación Award” (2014). Winner of the “Best Performer” award at the SanGiò Verona Video Film Festival (2019) with the short film “Hard to love”, “Best Actress” at the Global Indian Film Festival (2020) for the fiction feature film “La Travesía”, and “Best Actor” at the Canada International Mobile Film Festival 2025 for the short film “Rootless”. Currently she is living in Toronto, Canada. In 2024 she coordinated the Toronto Latin American Film Festival (LATAFF).