Magical Theys

2024
Performance
Costume by: Noina Espinos
Movement by: Guillem Jiménez

Exhibited in:
2025 Y events: Once Upon a Time. Teather x10. Prague. CZ.
2024 Un paisatge reverberant, laberíntic, fangós, dens i estrellat. Curated by amor rumor (blanca arias & edu r. pineda). Sala d’Art Jove, La Caldera. Barcelona. SP
2024 I swear that I will become a prince. Jedna Dva Try Gallery, Prague, CZ
2024 Artefacte Festival. Fabra i Coats Contemporary Art Center. Barcelona. SP
2024 Hangar Obert. Hangar Center of art production and research. Barcelona. SP.

Magical Theys reimagines the classical archetype of the knight through a queer and non-binary lens. The project draws from historical figures such as Joan of Arc, Catalina/Antonio de Erauso, and the Lady of Arintero; as well as Shōjo and Magical Girl manga and anime.

These lineages intersect with Magical Girl and Shōjo classics (Princess Knight, The Rose of Versailles, Sailor Moon, Revolutionary Girl Utena)— genres that challenge traditional gender roles and celebrate vulnerability as a revolutionary weapon. Central to these narratives is Henshin, a ritualized transformation through clothing that acts as a mechanism for identity construction and queer embodiment. Building on this idea of transformation, I draw parallels with medieval poems such as the anonymous 15th-century ballad La Doncella Guerrera, which tells the story of someone assigned female at birth who undergoes a series of bodily changes to become a knight.

The performance itself operates as a live Henshin, adopting this exact logic of transformation through attire. Stretched over time, it unfolds across masculine, femme, and in-between performativities. Through fencing-inspired movement, performer Arévalo navigates bodily modifications using binders, corsets, chainmail, and vulnerable armor. Here, garments become instruments of metamorphosis: reshaping breath, redrawing silhouettes, and celebrating the Rose Prince as a figure in a perpetual state of becoming.