TARAB

Five dancers unite in the odd rhythmic patterns of the pre-Islamic cultural heritage of the Middle East. All accented and enhanced by daf and tombak player Mohammad Reza Mortazavi playing live on stage.

Part of Nafas نفس Dance festival.

In TARAB, the third part of a trilogy, contemporary dance company عطش ATASH عطش focuses on unexplored, underrepresented and, at times forbidden dances, healing ceremonies and odd rhythmic patterns, from the pre-Islamic cultural heritage of the ethnic groups living in West and Central Asia. Dance cosmologies, for example Sama, Ghare Pire Zhan, Hatan and Afar have undergone several Euro-colonial and Islamic translations, where women who were its main bearers were reduced to sexualised entertainment dancers or forbidden from performing them altogether

Accompanied by the complex rhythms of virtuoso percussionist Mohammad Reza Mortazavi, five dancers embody these millennia-old movement materials.

TARAB is about imagining a possible dialogue between these dance worlds and the contemporary dance language without shying away from the colonial dynamics between the two. 'Tarab' occurs when a body is gripped by music.

After the performance, there will be a discussion with the artists, hosted by choreographer Gwyn Emberton.

The performance is a part of Forbidden culture week.

Team
Concept & choreography: Ulduz Ahmadzadeh

Concept & scenography: Till Krappmann

Composition & live music: Mohammad Reza Mortazavi

Dance & choreography: Desi Bonato, Naline Ferraz, Luca Major, Yiannis Tsigkris, Xianghui Zeng

Light design: Jan Wielander

Production: Mascha Mölkner

Tarab is produced by عطش ATASH عطش contemporary dance company in co-production with Tanzquartier Wien.

With support of: Vienna city, Austrian Federal Ministry for Arts, Culture, Public Administration and Sport.

Residence: Dampfzentrale Bern.

About choreographewr Ulduz Ahmadzadeh

Ulduz Ahmadzadeh is a choreographer, performer, researcher and artistic director of the contemporary dance company عطش ATASH عطش, which she founded in 2012. Born in Tehran, she started dancing in a country where it is still forbidden. Despite state censorship, she performed regularly with the Harekat company from 1999 to 2004. She was then imprisoned. After her release, she started her own dance company, which continues to be highly critical of the political system and explicitly addresses socio-political issues and cultural hierarchies. Ahmadzadeh studied directing at Soureh University of Arts in Tehran, contemporary dance pedagogy at MUK in Vienna and social design at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna.

About composer and musician Mohammad Reza Mortazavi

Percussionist Mohammad Reza Mortazavi sees percussion as more than just a rhythmic instrument. Through his melodic and distinctive style of playing the traditional Persian percussion instruments tombak and daf, he has created a musical genre all of his own. Mohammad Reza Mortazavi was born in 1979 in Isfahan, two months after the revolution in Iran. He has been living in Germany for the past 20 years as a composer and musician.

About عطش ATASH عطش Contemporary Dance Company

عطش ATASH عطش was founded in 2012 by Ulduz Ahmadzadeh. The name means 'thirst, desire, longing'. The company focuses on projects with varied aesthetics and working with different artists for each project, but always with a feminist, political undertone, عطش ATASH عطش wants to expand the contemporary dance language with a Middle Eastern vocabulary and break the hegemony of Western-dominated aesthetics.

Category: Performances
Dates: 17 November
Venue: Skånes Dansteater
Age: Recommended from 13 years
Duration: 75 min