being
PREMIERE: 26 October 2017, CAMPO (co-presentation with Vooruit Arts Centre) Ghent (BE)
BY: Bára Sigfúsdóttir
WITH: Masoumeh Jalalieh and SeyedAlireza Mirmohammadi
MUSIC: Eivind Lønning
COSTUME: Andrea Kraenzlin
LIGHTING DESIGN: Jan Fedinger
DRAMATURGY: Sara Vanderieck
TECHNICAL SUPERVISION: Marie Vandecasteele and/or Bardia Mohammad
DURATION: about 50 minutes
PRODUCTION: GRIP
INTERNATIONAL DISTRIBUTION: A Propic / Line Rousseau and Marion Gauvent
CO-PRODUCTION: Vooruit Arts Centre / DNA – Departures and Arrivals, DansBrabant, DANCE ON PASS ON DREAM ON, workspacebrussels / Life Long Burning, Moussem Nomadic Arts Centre, de Grote Post, and C-TAKT
WITH THE SUPPORT OF: Fabrik Potsdam, Platform 0090, Grand Theatre and CAMPO
WITH THE FINANCIAL SUPPORT OF: the Flemish Government, the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany, the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union, and the city of Antwerp
THANKS TO: Andrean Sigurgeirsson and Martin Blank
FR premiere BE
IS première
NL premiere
IR premiere
TR premiere
As a poetic generator of subtext, the moving body can express different layers of sensations and experiences. In being, Bára Sigfúsdóttir uses this body as the common ground to explore and to put in dialogue the West-European with the Iranian identity.
Rooted in an ongoing curiosity towards new cultures and the development of the movement in different contexts than her own, Bára traveled to Tehran (Iran) in 2014 to take part in the UNTIMELY Festival. While teaching a workshop there, she got intrigued by the skills and presence of two local artists, Masoumeh Jalalieh and SeyedAlireza Mirmohammadi. This planted the seed for being, a piece where Bára creates an onstage encounter for and with Masoumeh and SeyedAlireza. For this performance, the three of them explore the concept of ‘meeting’ and reflect on the West-European and the Iranian (and by extension the Middle-Eastern) culture and society. Their bodies serve as the common ground to depart from. The meeting between bodies, between Masoumeh and SeyedAlireza on stage but also between them and the audience, serves as a sober gesture: a place to explore what we share rather than to underline our differences.
>more info about being can be found on Bára’s blog www.projectbeing.net<
Shafagh
Shafagh is the Persian word for twilight.
To photographer Klaartje Lambrechts, it’s a clear metaphor for Iranian society and a beautiful title for her exhibition on dance and movement in Iran.
For the creation of Shafagh, Klaartje Lambrechts traveled to Iran three times between 2015 and 2019. She discovered a country with strict laws but unlimited possibilities.
Many of those possibilities are created in a large gray zone, lacking clear boundaries.
A twilight zone between what is allowed and what is possible; between what catches the eye and what remains hidden.
In the fall of 2019 on her third trip, she traveled with two dancers from Teheran, Masoumeh, and Ali to the desert areas of the Dasht-e Lut and Busher, in southern Iran. After the stifling bustle of Tehran, the photographer sought the desolate atmosphere of the awesome desert landscape. She made a conceptual series on sand dunes, rocks, and salt flats.
The bodies of the dancers disappear in the fabrics that surround them.
They explore, they struggle, they test their extensibility. Captured on camera, their contours become sculptures in the vast desert landscape, solidified movement in which the dynamics and the tension are still contained. The series are a wonderful image of dance and movement in Iran, and a beautiful metaphor for contemporary Iranian society, in which the same kind of tension is constantly being felt. The fabrics limit the dancers. At the same time, they offer protection to the outside eye. Inside they do what they want, they explore boundaries. The tissues are a layer between people and the world.
In Plain Sight
In Plain Sight is the result of months of exploring urban movements on a boulevard in Tehran, Iran. In a society where many questions and restrictions exist around the concept of ‘movement’, three performers try to define the borders of dance. They interact with their surroundings and thus become an integral part of the flow of the city. They accompany each other to find the power of collective movement. The journey is the destination.
- Director: Tanin Torabi
- Choreography: Tanin Torabi
- Dance and Acting: Tanin Torabi, Masoumeh Jalalieh, Tina Beyk Abbasi
- Production: Sina Saberi, Tanin Torabi
- Country of Production: Iran
- Year of Production: 2020
- Duration: 00:10:30
- Camera: Masoud Banafsheh
- Editing: Anis Eshraqi
- Music: Farah Fahimi
B_or der
“A caged bird stands on the grave of dreams
his shadow shouts on a nightmare scream
his wings are clipped and his feet are tied
so he opens his throat to sing.”
Maya Angelou
People are constantly confronted with borders in every possible meaning of the word (physical or mental, external or internal…).
But what are these borders exactly? How do they come into existence? How are they shaping/affecting our bodies and our minds?
Borders are surrounding us. As human beings, we even construct them ourselves all the time. Needless to say, they are affecting us in different ways. And a lot depends on our position and our point of view. We construct borders to extend our property, attachment, and freedom but what is the line for these borders? Don’t we limit others’ freedom by extending our own borders?
In Maya Angelou’s poem, ‘the bird opens his throat to sing. The song of the bird is pleasing to the human ear, but at the same time, it is a sign of the bird’s imprisonment. In this image, choreographer Masoumeh Jalalieh found an intriguing starting point for a new performance, which at this point is a work in progress.
- Choreography: Masoumeh Jalalieh
- Movement research: Soolmaz Shoaie/Zahra Roostami, Masoumeh Jalalieh.
- Music: Payman Abdali
- Dramaturgy: Ines Minten
- In collaboration with STUK leuven, SPAM! & Semi Cattivi
Time Paranoia
This piece wanted to make the music be seen and the dance to be heard. The base was the printed algorithm of the music which we had composed beforehand. Each performer followed one musical instrument. This resulted in a pattern of space and time, which constantly made new compositions of movements appear. We used minimalistic movement in order to get the performance through censorship. This way we tried to push the limits of contemporary dance in our country bit by bit.
- Choreography: Soolmaz Shoaie& Masoumeh Jalalieh
- Dance: Soolmaz Shoaie, parvin Salqughi& Masoumeh Jalalieh
- Music: Sina Shoaie
- Visuals: Arman Moghadam
- Dramaturgy: Ines Minten
2017_ 35th Fadjr international theatre festival. Tehran. Iran
2016_ Da Theater house. Tehran. Iran
2016_ 6th Untimely international contemporary dance festival. Tehran. Iran
Decline
Relations, dimensions, movement replacement
Disorder and disturbance
Routines and rituals
Correlation of individuals
Figures correspondence
The minimalistic performance Decline is based on a basic daily movement and tries to challenge different perceptions of single fractions of the disordered collection. This daily movement pattern consists of several postures and states which go in circles and come out in repetitive patterns. The pattern may always be the same, but the quality and the intention of the movement are changing the perception of what we see from the outside. The interpretation, however, is free. I have made two versions of Decline: a solo, and a duet, which both led to sometimes very different kinds of interpretation.
the performance is in dialogue with the Music called “Quellgeister” focused on semi-ruined organs in deserted churches.
Sonic signs of transformation / migration / left alone space / state horizon /Beatings / conditions / event-horizon /Pre-modern future.
- Director: Masoumeh Jalalieh
- Choreography: Masoumeh Jalalieh
- Dance: Atoosa Afshari, Masoumeh Jalalieh.
- Music: Stefan Fraunberger
- Dramaturgy: Ines Minten
2019_ Wonder women festival. Lucca. Italy
2017_ Tanztage Festival, Sophiensaele. Berlin. Germany
2016_ 34th Fadjr international theatre festival. Tehran. Iran
2015_ 5th Untimely international contemporary dance festival. Tehran. Iran
2014_ Zeitgenössischer Tanz aus dem Iran festival, Pasinger Fabrik. Munich. Germany