Bára Sigfúsdóttir & GRIP
2017As 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 curiousity towards new cultures and the development of movement in different contexts than her own, Bára travelled 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.
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