Maria Naidu’s works move between the stage and public space, inviting both observation and participation. Movement is central, often placed in dialogue with music, text and theatrical detail. Her work is marked by physical clarity, textural richness and a subtle, disarming humour. At the centre of her artistic practice is the simple conviction that dance can be inclusive while remaining artistically rigorous.

Based in Malmö since 2001, Naidu has worked with dance internationally for nearly four decades. She trained at Balettakademien in Gothenburg, Sweden, and later at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center in New York. From 1991 to 1998, she was a full-time soloist with Jennifer Muller/THE WORKS in New York City. Her choreographic works have been presented in 14 countries across five continents.

The works presented below trace the development of an artistic practice built on the conviction that choreography belongs in public life — not as spectacle, but as a recurring presence. At its centre is an 18-step line dance with no single owner: it belongs to anyone who wants to dance it. Used as a choreographic tool for collective experience, the dance becomes a way of gathering, moving together and finding community through a shared rhythm.

This long-term research has generated three works: The Slide/Glide (2023), Sammankomst / Assembly (2024) and On and on and on on and on (2025). The works span theatre settings, public space and participatory formats. Together, they ask what it means to gather through rhythm, repetition and shared movement.