PREMIÈRE | ELAD SCHECHTER & LA CHUTE | NASIM LOOTIJ + KIASA NAZERAN

This dance is a rare collaboration between a Muslim dancer and a Jewish choreographer. The work is a sort of protest, a performance originally staged in the Western part of the city where they were both born and raised, Jerusalem. Rand and Elad seek to reveal various aspects of Arab culture. She places a Walkman, a Polaroid camera and a mobile phone onstage, converses live with her mother, listens to an Algerian love song. She wears a layered costume revealing the colours of the Palestinian flag. Her masbacha (Arabic rosary) inspire movements that push the limits of physicality.

Works of art were destroyed, music and women’s singing forbidden, dancing banned. Nasim sheds light on the tragic story of the Iranian people, who were brutalized by violent events in recent history. She struggles to stand, resisting hostile forces. The lighting fragments her body into tree branches, a dramatic metaphor for the previous efforts of musicians suddenly unable to create a national music meant to unite the various ethnic groups. This neo-expressionist choreography gives voice to these artists and to the resilient men and women of Iran.