Pepa Ubera The Machine of Horizontal Dreams
Freesheet
About The Machine of Horizontal Dreams
Through choreography, sound, light, video and immersive space, this boundary-pushing performance installation invites audiences to reimagine Western ideas of progress not as linear growth or individual achievement, but as collective care, cyclical time, and embodied experience.
Drawing from ecofeminist and post-humanist thought – and inspired by visionary writer and activist Adrienne Maree Brown, Ubera proposes a framework where growth emerges through relationships, reflection and radical dreaming.
Created in collaboration with a dynamic network of artists and intergenerational community groups across the UK, The Machine of Horizontal Dreams is conceived as a container where multidisciplinary practices meet and intertwine.
The video installation of the Machine is powered by the work of visual artist and researcher Joey Holder, whose interests include speculative evolution, Magick, non-human time and aliens.
The music score is an original composition by Pierre Aviat that will envelope the audience with its cinematic quality. Joshie Harriette, an award-winning light artist, will work live to transform the environment. Video artist Bobby León will perform a live VJ set mixing all the visual components of the installation.
The performance brings together dance artists: Jay Yule, Elisabeth Mulenga, Yen-Ching Lin, Moronfoluwa Odimayo, Juliette Yasmine Mello.
Joining the collective scores will be 18 members of intergenerational community cast from the students of London Contemporary Dance School at The Place, to members of Sadler’s Wells Culture Club and Posh Club * Dance Club Hackney.
About Pepa Ubera
Pepa Ubera is a choreographer, researcher and interdisciplinary artist based between London and Madrid, with over 20 years of experience in the dance and performance sector. Her work explores the intersections of embodiment, technology, and speculative imagination, often unfolding as immersive performance installations that challenge linear narratives of progress. Drawing from feminist posthumanism, pleasure activism, and science fiction, she invites audiences into relational spaces where dreaming, stillness, and collective presence become radical acts.
Her concept of The Landscape of Ontologies frames performance as a living, breathing entity shaped by human and non-human interactions. Ubera creates experiences that blur the boundaries between performer and audience, theory and practice, body and environment.
Recent projects include CHARCO (2023) and The Machine of Horizontal Dreams, her most ambitious work to date, premiering at Sadler’s Wells East in autumn 2025. This project critically reimagines Western ideas of progress through ecological, feminist, and intergenerational lenses.
Pepa has presented work internationally in venues such as Hayward Gallery, Dance4, Barbican, and South East Dance (UK); Matucana 100 (Chile); kampnagel (Germany); and Critical Path and TasDance (Australia). Her performance of Ellipsis Land with Josefina Camus was featured in Tate Modern’s first live exhibition Ten Days Six Nights and presented at the Lilian Baylis Studio at Sadler’s Wells. She was a recipient of the DanceWeb Scholarship at ImPulsTanz (Vienna) and a Sadler’s Wells Summer University artist (2015–2018).
In parallel to her performance work, Ubera has curated experimental platforms such as The Palest Light (Sadler’s Wells Wild Card, 2016) and Limen Festival (TripSpace/Hayward Gallery). She continues to facilitate spaces for shared reflection, deep listening, and imaginative knowledge-making.
Artistic Team & Credits
Artistic Director & Choreographer Pepa Ubera
Performers Jay Yule, Elisabeth Mulenga, Yen-Ching Lin, Moronfoluwa Odimayo, Juliette Yasmine Mello
Community Performers Nehir Ozeke, Mia Ostinelli, Cynthia Nalyanya, Clara Strange Andersen, Ola Alexandria Röschlau, Hollie Whitford, Carmen De Mattia, Caitlin Paramor, Linda Siew C Ting, Suzanne Tarlin, Marcelle Davies, Veronica White, Mani Gollapalli, Aysegul Onat, Marian Farrugia, Dominga Prieto, Meera Kumar, Meng Keow Bickerton
Creative Producer Zarina Rossheart
Production Manager Steve Wald
Visual Artist Joey Hoder
Video Artist & Live VJ Bobby León
Light Artist Joshie Harriette
Sound Artist Pierre Aviat
Outside Eye & Choreographic Support Orrow Bell
Dramaturgy Assistance Eva Martinez, Josefina Camus
Voiceover and Text Support Klara Kofen
Costume Designer & Wardrobe Jordan Sherman
The Machine of Horizontal Dreams is a Sadler’s Wells co-commission.
Supported using public funding through Arts Council England.
Project partners: University for the Creative Arts (UCA); London Contemporary Dance School (LCDS) at The Place; Instituto Cervantes London.
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Featuring One Love Orchestra
Friday 7 November, 8.30pm – midnight
When the performance ends, the night begins. Join us for East Lates.
After the powerful journey of Toussaint to Move’s Free, the One Love Orchestra will turn The Dance Floor into an epic reggae dance party.
Playing original music from the show and more, get ready for the big energy of live reggae, jazz and dub music.