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L'Orient-Le Jour
22-07-2025
- Entertainment
- L'Orient-Le Jour
In Avignon, Arabic is spoken chiefly through dance
This year, Arabic is the guest of honor at the Avignon Festival. Sweeping away the xenophobic prejudices fostered by politicians, 10 shows from the Arab world — including six choreographic creations — give dance a place of honor. Through these works, pride, resistance, and sometimes disappointed hopes emerge. A hypnotic choreography, Ethiopian melodies, and gripping actresses come together to expose the violence of an invisible system in Lebanon. Everything was in place to provoke the audience's applause at the first show of the Avignon Festival — the opening event of the Arab program. In "When I Saw the Sea," Lebanese choreographer Ali Chahrour immediately breaks the fourth wall and shows us what we all need to hear: a call to stop closing our eyes. On stage, the intertwined destinies of three women from sub-Saharan Africa recount the violence, isolation and humiliation inflicted on them by the kafala system, which oppresses migrant women from Africa and South Asia. This marks a turning point for the Lebanese art scene, where previously silenced voices are now speaking up and finally becoming the subjects of their own stories. In this 79th edition, which stands in solidarity with the people of Gaza — also oppressed and silenced — the artistic approach is eloquent and signifies an act of resistance. In the shadow of the performers, singer Lynn Adib and musician Abed Kobeissy create an immersive atmosphere, managing to elevate a powerful message through a unique composition. The evident vulnerability of Rania, Tenei and Zena is accompanied by a powerfully free choreography, breaking free from resignation to embrace a kind of burning boldness. Our bodies are territories in fray In the same spirit of dissent, the solo performance of Belgian-Tunisian choreographer Mohammad Tubakri stands out. His work with its telling title "Every-body knows what tomorrow brings and we all know what happened yesterday," plays on the double meaning of 'every-body' (each body) and 'everybody' (everyone). It expresses the idea that, individually as well as collectively, our bodies carry the remains of the past and the ability to illuminate our future. This legacy, sometimes palpable, sometimes imperceptible, is one Tubakri urges us to question, especially regarding which dance forms Western standards deem legitimate. Like many Arab dancers in Cairo or Marrakesh, Tubakri had to assimilate into so-called 'legitimate' dances, while other practices were not recognized as art. In the mood for crafts? Kinamania will help you create your own bag Thus, he calls upon classical and contemporary dance just as much as breakdance and hip-hop, which he strives to reclaim for their political and subversive potential, and also the popular Maghreb dance called ' shtih.' Guided by the sharp words of Essia Jaibi, his reflective choreographic work sees the body as a field of tension, traversed by power dynamics, highlighting the challenges faced by dancers and choreographers in the MENASA regions (Middle East–North Africa–South Asia), who are often confronted by dominant expectations and perspectives. His dance is a language that communicates with the body, and not everything is meant to be translated. Sometimes elusive, his performance abolishes hierarchies between genres and reveals a raw force, a deep grounding that connects us to the struggle for freedom to dance in one's own language. Rediscovering a lushness in the desert What brings Mohammad Tubakri's performance close to "Magec/The Desert" by Moroccan choreographer Radwan Mriziga is a shared taste for drawing on various repertoires and a mutual desire to deconstruct imperialist narratives. While one works with language, the other works with space. In Mriziga's piece, the desert is not merely a void or a cruel, inert land; it is a place of passage and transformation, crisscrossed by peoples who bear knowledge, rich in poetry and harmonies forged with the environment. From the outset, this vision sweeps away utilitarian concepts while avoiding Orientalism. In this show, heritage is reappropriated and reinvented. In the dark of night, a mystical procession emerges in the Celestins' cloister, gradually enveloped in incense with red ashes. Under the auspices of a great solar disk revealing the vastness of the desert, we witness delicate rituals associated with Magec, the Amazigh sun king of the Canaries. To the rhythmic beat of little golden finger cymbals, six dancers march masked, wearing costumes that evoke the world of animals and indigenous plants, as well as motifs from cave paintings. They take turns personifying the soul of the Moroccan desert: the graceful antelope, the quick snake and the powerful scorpion each present their noble heritage, slowly shaping a collective dialogue. In the dancers' formations, we see both the idea of architectural composition, the devout movement of the sundial and the geometric sacredness of Belgian choreographer Keersmaeker, who trained Mriziga and who is presenting 'Brel' at Avignon. According to Mriziga, it was the weeks spent in the heart of the desert that forged a genuine bodily grammar, enriched by various inspirations such as the writings of Maia Tellit Hawad, a Franco-Tuareg scholar, or those of poet Hawad Mahmoudan. Craftsmanship of Tunisian women artisans Attending "Laaroussa Quartet" by Selma and Sofian Ouissi is like hearing a concert where the instruments are gestures. A female quartet joins in reading unique choreographic scores, where the movements are meticulous, both firm and delicate. Their fingers sculpt, in the spotlight, an infinitely delicate pottery. Behind them, a wide screen pulls us right into the heart of Sejnan, a modest region of Tunisia where a community of 60 women maintains their mastery of the fire art. "Laaroussa" is, above all, a popular artistic project founded by the choreographers to alleviate the extremely harsh economic conditions affecting this community. In tribute, it is both the sensitive crafting of scores and the making of a choreo-documentary that captures the essence of a demiurgic, ancestral, almost sacred gesture. It gives it new vibrancy, greater visibility and a way to keep existing. Deeply committed, the 79th edition of the Avignon Festival paid homage to its history and values, which are rooted in cultural and intercultural dialogue. Still lingering, however, is the question of why dance was given pride of place at this festival. What explains this predominance, and is it not somewhat bittersweet to see the low representation of contemporary Arab dramatic works at such a major international event that has chosen Arabic as its honored language? Dance indeed is one of the most popular forms of artistic expression in the Arab world, just as poetry is, and readings abounded at this festival. Yet, despite arriving later on the Arab arts scene, dramatic production is no less vital. All the more, now — as words more than ever need to be spoken, carried and heard in France and the West — it is legitimate to wonder why this magnificent vehicle that is theater for the Arabic language is underrepresented, and whether the Avignon Festival's offer remains at the level of a manifesto.
France 24
15-07-2025
- Entertainment
- France 24
Arabic language takes centre stage at Avignon's 79th theatre festival
Culture 12:58 12:58 min From the show For three weeks every summer, the streets of the southern French city of Avignon are overrun with performances of all kinds, from classical drama to spontaneous stand-up comedy. FRANCE 24's Olivia Salazar-Winspear went to check out this year's programme, as festival director Tiago Rodrigues invites Arabic-speaking artists to show their work as part of his guest language initiative. We discuss the multimedia storytelling of "When I saw the Sea", a performance created by Lebanese director Ali Chahrour exploring the injustices and indignities experienced by migrant workers in the "Kafala" system and hear how personal stories give his work powerful emotional authenticity and a universal resonance. We also hear from Zena, one of his inspiring actresses, and reflect upon the resistance of the Lebanese cultural sector, despite the recent crises the country has endured.
LeMonde
10-07-2025
- Entertainment
- LeMonde
Avignon Festival: 'When I Saw the Sea', Ali Chahrour's peaceful and political work
Tackling a major political issue head-on, such as the kafala system, an abusive arrangement in Lebanon that ties a worker's residency permit to their employment contract, is a perilous undertaking. That is the challenge Lebanese choreographer Ali Chahrour has taken on with his latest work, When I Saw the Sea. On stage at La FabricA in Avignon from July 5 to 8, he not only managed to alert the audience to a terrifying reality but has also created a peaceful work that reflects his own sensibility in defiance of barbarity. When I Saw the Sea centers on three women. These domestic workers, who came from Africa, met Chahrour through a nongovernmental organization. They, along with others, testified about their harrowing survival conditions at the hands of employers who treated them as slaves. Emerging from the darkness of the stage, they share their stories and simply recount what they experienced, detailing one act of violence and humiliation after another. One, an orphan, was abandoned on the street by her mother, a housemaid, raped by her employer, and describes the abuses suffered by domestic workers: burned with boiling oil, forced into prostitution. Another explains how her hair was cut, she was forced to bathe in front of "Madame," and made to sign a paper forbidding her from having sex.
Asharq Al-Awsat
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Asharq Al-Awsat
War Takes Center Stage as Lebanon's Theatres are Back
As Lebanon suffered a war last year, Ali Chahrour was determined to keep making art, creating a performance inspired by the plight of migrant workers caught up in the conflict. Months after a ceasefire largely halted the fighting between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, Chahrour's work premiered in Beirut in early May with plans to take it to stages across Europe including at France's famed Avignon Festival, AFP said. "This project was born during the war," said the 35-year-old playwright and choreographer. "I did not want to stop making theater, because I don't know how to fight or carry weapons, I only know how to dance." On stage, two Ethiopian domestic workers and a Lebanese Ethiopian woman speak, sing and dance, telling stories of exile and mistreatment in "When I Saw the Sea", directed by Chahrour. The play pays tribute to the migrant women who were killed or displaced during the two-month war between Israel and Hezbollah which ended in November, and the year of hostilities that preceded it. Hundreds of migrant workers had sought refuge in NGO-run shelters after being abandoned by employers escaping Israeli bombardment. Others were left homeless in the streets of Beirut while Lebanon's south and east, as well as parts of the capital, were under attack. Chahrour said that "meeting with these women gave me the strength and energy to keep going" even during the war, seeking to shed light on their experience in Lebanon which is often criticized for its poor treatment of migrant workers. 'Escape and therapy' The war has also shaped Fatima Bazzi's latest work, "Suffocated", which was shown in Beirut in May. It was revised after the 32-year-old playwright was displaced from her home in Beirut's southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold heavily bombarded during the war. The play originally portrayed a woman dealing with her misogynistic husband, and was reshaped by Bazzi's own experience, forced to escape to Iraq until the ceasefire was finally reached. Determined to continue the project the moment she returned to Lebanon, Bazzi had kept in contact with the cast in video calls. "We took advantage of this in the performance, the idea of separation and distance from each other, how we worked to continue the play," she told AFP during a recent rehearsal. At one point in the play, the characters are suddenly interrupted by the sound of a bomb and rush to their phones to see what was hit this time, with their reactions becoming scenes of their own. To Bazzi, working on the play has allowed her and the cast to "express the things we felt and went through, serving as an escape and therapy". 'Children of war' Theater stages across Lebanon did not lift their curtains during the war, and though they are now back, the local scene is still burdened by the effects of a devastating economic crisis since 2019. "We postponed an entire festival at the end of last year due to the war," said Omar Abi Azar, 41, founder of the Zoukak collective. The group runs the theater where Bazzi's latest piece was performed. "Now we have started to pick up the pace" again, said Abi Azar, whose own play was postponed by the war. "Stop Calling Beirut", which Abi Azar created with his collective, tells the story of the loss of his brother more than a decade ago and their childhood memories during Lebanon's civil war, which ended in 1990. Zoukak itself was born out of a crisis during a previous war between Hezbollah and Israel in 2006. "We are children of war. We were born, raised and grew up in the heart of these crises," said Abi Azar. To him, "this is not a challenge, but rather our reality". "If this reality wanted to pull us down, it would have dragged us, buried us and killed us a long time ago," he added, seeking hope in art.
Straits Times
17-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Straits Times
Dance review: Ali Chahrour's Told By My Mother a compelling tale of family loss and grief
Ali Chahrour's Told By My Mother is part of the Singapore International Festival of Arts. PHOTO: CANDY WELZ
