Behind the Deck

On one of those May days when the weather was changing from minute to minute, Elia Ephron sat down with Stanley Ollivier and Matias Rocha Moura, founder of Entwined, a radiophonic cross-linking radiophonic organization based in Brussels. With Entwined Studio, a concept born at Kaai, they created afternoons in which guests proposed different radio sets from DJ sets, to podcasts, live performances, and more. At the end of their two-year long residency at Kaai, the duo look back at the circumstances that carried movement and music into their lives, and that brought the two of them together. Having just held a first event in Paris at Lithium Café Radio on 31 May, Entwined is preparing for its last edition with Kaai on 18 June, and a separate event held later in the month. Looking ahead, the future form that Entwined will take remains open, but filled with promise, not least because of the community that has cropped up around it, and the moments of beauty and joy it has generated. 

Elia: I had this first question for you about the name “Entwined.” I've always liked this name a lot. I never got the chance to ask either of you why you chose it. 

Matias: When we were searching for a name, we were searching for a word that was kind of encapsulating the connection between different disciplines, different spheres, and intertwining them all in one. In one platform, in one word, and in one concept. We found this word ‘entwined’. It kind of means the same as interwoven, as twisted, as connection. 

Very early on we already knew that we wanted to work with radio as a medium, and this word sounds like tuning in to something. Like, sound-wise, it has this sonic, wavy feeling. 

Stanley: It embodies hybridization, because what we're doing with Entwined is trying to merge different practices, as well as creating a space for artists that don't know each other to meet, and see what comes out in the radiophonic event. Plus, the name Entwined was translating very well both of our energies and friendship.  

Elia: It's totally true. My second question concerns your artistic trajectory, your background as artists. And how you’d characterize your relationship to music, let’s say.  

Stanley: I started doing artistic gymnastics for ten years, and then I started dancing through a summer camp in France, which made me want to become a dancer and a choreographer. I then studied in Paris and later Brussels. Music has always been part of my trajectory, because I’ve always had dance classes with music. In every type of discipline I’ve trained (jazz, ballet, tap-dance etc), there was always a relation to sound, and rhythm.  

There was my family as well, always listening to Caribbean music through my mother's side, or my father who was a DJ back in the days. I have to give him credit for making me discover a lot of hip-hop, r&b music from France, and America, and bringing me to different local parties, meeting different communities, and enjoying different music.   

However, for me wanting to be involved in music came when I went to Basel in Switzerland, during COVID. It was a tough period, but Basel had nice parties, and very talented dj’s who would play on the week-end. That’s how I met Matias, in the club. I was very inspired by the artists in Basel, especially by OKRA Collective, and because there wasn't much to do outside, I stayed home and tried to learn how to DJ. I bought a very cheap DDJ- 400 in the vintage store. 

The idea of Entwined came very organically in this town, by geeking and practicing together.  

Matias: I started dancing very early on. I was seven years old, and I was in this dance school that my father created, with Paulo Ribeiro in my hometown in Portugal. I was always surrounded by dance and movement as a child. I was taken to see shows and performances, so music, because it's deeply connected with dance and with performance, entered my life really early. 

I started with hip-hop, which for me was my first love for dance and for music. It was my initiation to really have an attraction to dance because I was more used to seeing contemporary dance or performance, but I didn't really connect to it as much. Through time, I started trying other things—ballet, contemporary— which led me to then become a contemporary performer myself.  

I think my music taste and appreciation really came more when I was in college at Codarts (NL) because I had these three colleagues, Octagon Blues, who were doing music in school, they were dancers as well. They were collecting music, vinyls, and producing their own music. And through them and going to their parties I started discovering another world of music, especially electronic and club music.  

I was then dancing for this company in TheaterBasel, in Switzerland, that's when I met Stanley again. At this time, not only were we in the final stages of the Pandemic, but I was in this very tight schedule of dancing almost every night on stage and working really hard, that I felt a need for an escape, a release. We went to a lot of amazing parties there! 

Elia: I mentioned that I had been at one of the first editions of Entwined. I don't remember if it was the first, but it was one of the first for sure. It was such a lovely atmosphere. I remember we were dancing all afternoon and it was just becoming summer. It was very hot in the penthouse, like a bit steamy. People were just, you know, a little tipsy and had a bit too much sun and kept moving the whole day. I felt like it captured something about Brussels that I love, a relaxed energy, an openness.  I wanted to hear you reflect on this: What is the relation to the city? What is it about Entwined that captures something about this city that we call home. 

Matias: Well, for me, as a newbie. I think what I noticed about Brussels and, well, coming from Switzerland just before that, is that it's such a culturally rich city. 

There's so much going on. There's a lot of young and innovative initiatives. It kind of also just sets the ground base for us to propose something, and I think that's what made it so easy to do it here, and not so much in Switzerland. There's just this sense of opportunity and open doors in the arts, especially. 

Stanley: When we created Entwined, we were wondering, because obviously we were not DJs, we were trying to enter the scene in Basel, just by learning. But then we were wondering how to enter the music scene if we are only affiliated to the contemporary dance community ? And, so that's why we created Entwined, because we thought it would be a pity to limit ourselves to just one practice. So Entwined is about creating the possibility to be multiple things and to record that, to archive it, and make it part of this world. 

I think Brussels–because I come from Paris–there's no other place that I've been to that gives such limitless opportunities. There is a lot of accessibility to start a new project, and share a message. I think the city itself, as you say, is multicultural and Brussels has already a very hybrid identity. So, Entwined is not inventing something for Brussels, but it's just, reflecting through that, navigating with Brussels. The city is, and has very curious citizens, and so I think it's the perfect home for it. 

Elia: You touched upon this, but I wanted to ask a bit about some difficulties that you faced with this project. Is there something else you want to speak about in terms of challenges? 

Stanley: The challenges were definitely on trying to define the project, and make it accessible, while also letting ourselves the time to research, and change.  

Our project is a cross-linking radiophonic project, we were interested to do it because we got the opportunity to be residents at Kiosk Radio from 2023 till 2025. Kiosk Radio was a big deal for us, it was our first chance to clearly sit, and think about how to curate these bi-monthly residency shows, practice, and research on music while trying to bring our sphere into it. 

For Kaaitheater, the goal was different, we wanted to identify what Entwined was beyond Djing. Belgian-Iranian curator and activist, Maria Dogahe, invited, and offered us this residency at Kaaitheater, and the whole team gave us support, space, and time to nurture, mature the project, find our audience, and think how the organisation could grow. We definitely learned a lot with KAAI on production, and communication as well.  

Matias: The fact that our concept is so hybrid and so open, we wanted to experiment with so many facets, I think that's what the challenge was: how can everyone understand what we're trying to create, something that we feel is new. There's just so many possibilities and so much freedom in this concept that maybe that was the challenge of bringing it, in a society that is so structured. 

I think one of the challenges, still today, is to keep this concept on a voluntary basis. I think it's something that we really wanted to do and it's something that we will keep on doing whenever we can.   

Elia: Thank you, perfect. I wanted to ask you more about the future of this project. Where is it going? What do you hope to see come out of it? 

Stanley: Firstly, it would be nice to keep Entwined STUDIO alive, as well as creating new formats that can be itinerary, but we would love to start creating parties in clubs, and hopefully one day create our own festival. We remain open.  

Something that I've seen from these past two years with Entwined, and that I think we enjoyed doing, and is needed in the field, is diffusion. I think Entwined is a very good platform to diffuse artists. We are artists ourselves, so we understand what’s needed because we experience it as well. It creates a nice relation with the peers we encounter, the dialogue is more real. We are very open to anyone proposing something and helping them to get press diffusion. So I think that’s something we might want to continue doing and grow within it. 

Matias: To sum it up: we want to keep on evolving in this mission that we already have been doing and really crystallize that. I think in this age of digital media, we just want to remain a sort of space for artistic voices to keep on contacting us and using our platform. 

Elia: As we reflect on these many editions of Entwined, as you come to the last one for now, I thought it would be nice to share a moment that you remember fondly. I have one, so I can share mine first if you like: 

I remember one Entwined, there were so many people there at the Penthouse at Kaaistudios. We were just sitting outside, chatting, moving back inside, you know, kind of tuning in and out.  There was this funny moment just before Laryssa Kim was DJing. She had these pinstripe trousers. And weirdly, I was wearing a pinstripe jacket that night that matched them just perfectly. So I took it off and I gave it to her, to keep. I said, ‘Laryssa, you should have it because you have the pants to match’. And then she DJ'd with this perfect new two-piece set on and I thought it was just a sweet moment of sharing. And that's just, I don't know, that was like another one of my Entwined memories that I enjoy reflecting on. So, do you have a memory you want to share? 

Matias: Oh, so many highlights. 

I think what strikes me the most in the Entwined events–and what I love to see–is that it's a full day, so people pass by and they come and they go. This last edition #7, Actually, many different people showed up. There was one edition that was very Gen Z, Gen Alpha, and then suddenly a big shift happened: A lot of Millennials and Boomers came right after that, and just those movements of people coming, and going. It's always super interesting, and it just means that it's a space for everyone! I think because Kaaitheater provided us with the Penthouse of Kaaistudios, which is a closed space with a terrace. And if you're not always outside, then you are able to see how the space transforms and how it is being transformed by the attitude and the presence of different people with different stories, and how they inhabit the space.  

Stanley: That is the most beautiful thing about this concept. You can really see the metamorphosis. On of the best highlights for me were from Entwined #1 and Entwined #6. Because in both there were two moments in which the pace of the day became a bit slower. It was four different artists who proposed a more ambient-type of sound, or they sang live, and honestly to witness all of us taking a pause, laying down, chilling, really listening, and being transported, this was purely beautiful to feel, and experience. I mean, all Entwined Studio’s editions were incredible. The one at Halles De Schaerbeek—Gounouj by Léo Lérus-and then the party afterwards with DJ BEA, and with the amazing scenography of Axelle Manguila-Husikama at the end was really healing ! 

But that's also something we learned with the Kaai team throughout our residency. The concept worked better when we had an afternoon of radio, and then there was a show from the Kaaitheater programme. Somehow the concept had more time to unfold, and dissolve. So it was very interesting to have this reflection all together.  

Elia: And just to clarify, there's another Entwined with Kaai on the 18th ? 

Matias and Stanley: There is one more Entwined STUDIO #8, 18 June, from 14:00 till 20:00, which is accompanied by the new show of Luisa Fernanda Alfonso and Estefanía Álvarez Ramírez: Quinceañeras at 20:30. We are excited to have this show in our Entwined programme !  

We’re also part of Vaux-Hall Summer 2026, on June 27th from 20:00 till 23:00, we curated a nice little line-up for the occasion. Both events are a nice way to close off the season, our residency, and open new horizons.  

Elia: Sounds great. I’m looking forward to it! 

Special thanks to the whole Kaaitheater crew for their guidance, and to all the artists that contributed to the residency, and brought their energy, and stories to the studio.