WIPCOOP, the Work In Progress Cooperation by Mestizo Arts Platform, is fast approaching its tenth edition in Brussels - What the WIP? The platform offers the arts sector and audiences a unique opportunity to get a behind the scenes glimpse and explore what the future holds in the performing arts. 

During WIPCOOP, on Thursday 9 October, Amina Abouelghar, Misha Demoustier, Aline Olmos Steler and Sanae Jamaï each present thirty minutes of their Works In Progress. Expect a rich palette of themes, media and voices: from dance and humour to Arabic rhythms, classical piano, personal love letters to oneself — and even a mermaid. After the presentation, they converse with dramaturges, workshops, producers and arts programmers about their work and any possible support. The audience are able to participate in round tables or listen to short pitches by other interesting creators.

WIPCOOP takes place all year round: it’s a continuous development track in Brussels, Antwerp, Gent and Leuven. The goal is to give new artistic creations visibility, stimulate dialogue, and to bring artists and organisations together in order to continue developing new work in front of audiences. 

The network of partners is now growing beyond national borders. The first international edition of WIPCOOP took place in 2023, and in this year’s edition we’ll also welcome creators from Barcelona, Berlin and Amsterdam, as well as the usual Brussels cohort.

The works in progress are performed during the day, on Wednesday 8 October and Thursday 9 October, and are free to attend. Curious to see what came out of previous WIPCOOP editions, or which performances are showing this time? Visit www.mestizoartsplatform.be for more information.

PROGRAM

• 09:30 – 10:00: Welcome with coffee & tea + introduction
• 10:00 – 10:30: Misha Demoustier makes the invisible tangible in Bodies of Conflict and Avoidance, a physical solo about grief, doubt, and how we live past each other.
• 10:30 – 11:30: Feedback, roundtable discussions with Joana Rossi, interventions on in-between spaces with Enrica Camporesi
• 11:30 – 12:00: With il était un foie, Sanae Jamaï presents a vulnerable and humorous solo about living with illness, resilience, and the right to be different.
• 12:00 – 13:00: Feedback // 12:00 – 12:30 roundtable discussions, “In-between spaces” with Enrica Camporesi
• 12:30 – 13:30: Lunch break soup lunch
• 13:30 – 14:00: In Birds Cries, Amina Abouelghar explores how rhythm triggers memory, connects bodies, and generates new movement patterns.
• 14:00 – 15:00: Feedback + roundtable discussions + pitch + intervention “in-between spaces” with Enrica Camporesi
• 15:00 – 15:30: In Trilogy of Satiety: Part 1 – The Rediscovery of the Future, Aline Olmos Steler uses humor and absurdity to explore the boundaries of performance, puppetry, and circus, questioning what is considered acceptable within contemporary art.
• 15:30 – 16:30: Feedback, roundtable discussions, intervention “in-between spaces” with Enrica Camporesi
   

Misha Demoustier - Bodies of Conflict and Avoidance (working title) 

We move through the world next to one another – bodies in transit, brushing past each other in shared space – each of us carrying invisible loads. And yet, we rarely pause to witness or acknowledge the internal states of those around us. We avoid. We protect ourselves. We retreat into the self. But what if our internal struggles were visible? What if the silent negotiations we carry within – the doubt, the grief, the resistance, the shame – were no longer private?  

In Bodies of Conflict and Avoidance Misha Demoustier makes what is invisible tangible. He explores how doubt, grief, shame and resistance manifest in the body - and how these feelings both separate and connect us. This multidisciplinary dance solo is a first step towards a group performance: Bodies in Transit. 

Misha Demoustier (he/him) has, despite his young age, already gained extensive stage experience both in Belgium and abroad. Since 2008, he has been active as a dancer-performer with companies such as Kabinet K / Kopergietery, fABULEUS, Theater Malpertuis, and wpZimmer, and more recently with VOETVOLK / Lisbeth Gruwez, ULTIMA VEZ / Zoë Demoustier, LaGeste, and Arkadi Zaides. During his (secondary) studies, he encountered the visual arts, which led him to expand his practice beyond dance into video installation, instrument building, and music performance. In his transition from dancer to creator, Misha aims to integrate this multidisciplinary approach into his work.

Credits: Concept & dance: Misha Demoustier // Sound: Rint Mennes & Misha Demoustier // Dramaturgy: Rint Mennes, fyllenia grigoriou // With support from Vlaamse Overheid, Ultima Vez, Voetvolk, Mestizo Arts Platform/WIPCOOP. 
 

Sanae Jamaï – Il était un foie

In her one-woman show, Sanae Jamaï takes you on an intimate journey through her inner world, where illness is not an enemy but a lifelong companion. Through words and dance, she gives voice to silence, solitude, and the strength that hides within vulnerability. With humor and honesty, she breaks taboos around disability and invites reflection on resilience and the beauty of being different.

Sanae Jamaï (she/her) is a Brussels-based creator with a passion for inclusion and diversity. She moves between theatre and social projects, always with the intention of amplifying the voices of vulnerable groups. Her work is infused with personal experience and a deep-rooted belief in the connective power of art. With her multilingual background and atypical journey as a chronically ill woman, she brings unique perspectives to the stage.

Credits: Concept & performance: Sanae Jamaï – Coach: Mohamed Ouachen // With thanks to Le BAMP, KVS, TransfoCollect // Supported by Mestizo Arts Platform/WIPCOOP.
 

Amina Abouelghar – Birds Cries

Birds Cries is a dance performance born from the desire to collaborate – with other bodies and other rhythms. Using familiar concepts from rhythmic systems, Amina explores how rhythmic patterns guide the body, evoke memories, and shape behavior. Together with other dancers on stage, she creates a new soundscape that reinterprets old sounds, unravels layers of time, and searches for new ways of moving, listening, and connecting.

Amina Abouelghar (she/her) is a dancer and choreographer working between Brussels and Cairo since graduating from the CCDC in Cairo in 2019. She developed her first solo, Young Dreams, in 2023, which was presented at NEXT Festival, Les Chorégraphiques, Vevey, and Festival de la Cité.

She is part of the international dance duo Nafaq; their work has been presented at Festival de Marseille, D-CAF, Indiscipline Festival (WIELS), and Triennale di Milano. Fascinated by music and rhythm – and by how dance and sound influence each other – she often collaborates with musicians to develop new performative languages.

credits: concept & performance: Amina Abouelghar // with thanks to Workspace Brussels & Garage 29 // supported by Mestizo Arts Platform / WIPCOOP. 
 

Aline Olmos Steler — Trilogy of Satiety: Part 1 – The Rediscovery of the Future – Oracular Practices

In the first chapter of her Trilogy of Satiety, Aline Olmos Steler seeks oracular insights in a place we rarely look: vaginal discharge. Not as a provocation, but as an act of reclamation. Where others find meaning in coffee grounds, stars, or palm lines, Oracular Practices invites a more intimate form of divination: the trace in one’s own underwear. What might it reveal if we dare to look? This trilogy forms part of Aline’s research into what is deemed “civilizable” and acceptable within contemporary Western art. Following Oracular Practices will be Part 2: In Love with a Table, I Sat on It – Masturbatory Practices and Part 3: I Want to Be You – Practices of Cover and Piracy.

Aline Olmos Steler (she/her) is a Brazilian theatre maker, clown, and performer based in Amsterdam. With two master’s degrees—Performing Arts (UNICAMP, BR) and DAS Theatre (NL)—she explores the edges of performance through chaos, layering, and absurdity. Humor is her language, accumulation her method. Her work moves between popular theatre, circus, and post-dramatic forms. She is co-founder and director of the ultraVioleta’s collective and from 2025 to 2027 will be artist-in-residence at RIGHTABOUTNOW INC.

Credits: Concept & performance: Aline Olmos Steler // Supported by RIGHTABOUTNOW INC. and Mestizo Arts Platform/WIPCOOP // Scenography: Aline Olmos Steler & Lili Huston-Herterich // Texts: Carolina Nóbrega & Aline Olmos // Reference: O Ovo e a Galinha – Clarice Lispector // Text: Aline Olmos Steler // Music: Billy Mullaney // Performance: Aline Olmos & Billy Mullaney // Costume: Aline Olmos Steler // Lighting: Giovanna Kelly // Video: Laíza Dantas // Advisors: Marjorie Boston, Maarten van Hinte, Mahsa Koochak // Production: RIGHTABOUTNOW INC.