Ali Chahrour
The Love Behind My Eyes
LebanonCan one die of a broken heart? The Lebanese choreographer Ali Chahrour asks this question in the last part of his trilogy on love, which he concluded in 2021 despite the pandemic and other crises in Beirut. The first part, «Layl (Night)», was presented at the festival in 2019. In the moving dance piece «The Love Behind My Eyes», Chahrour tells the tragic story of a forbidden love between two men in the Arabic world. Mohamed Ben Daoud, a theologist and scholar of the Islamic right and Arabic language, fell in love with Mohamed Ben Jamea, a young man from Isfahan. Daoud’s love was unfulfilled. Eventually, they say, he died of a broken heart.
«The Love Behind My Eyes» is inspired by love stories from the Arabic world and by the ghazal, an Arabic-Persian form of lyric poetry from pre-Islamic times. Many ancient stories remain untold, such as the one of Ben Daoud and his lover, who lived in difficult social and religious contexts. Shrouded by the voice of a mourning woman, the intimate choreography pays homage to forbidden love. The dance embodies sensuality and the art of love but also conveys the frailty of the protagonists, their pain and silent protest against the oppression of (love) stories deemed to be illegitimate. (pg)
Simple words
This dance piece is about unfulfilled love. An older man falls in love with a young man who does not respond to his love. The piece is inspired by an old Arabic story which is not very well known.
Artistic direction and cast
Regie & Choreografie | Ali Chahrour |
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Performance | Leila Chahrour, Chadi Aoun, Ali Chahrour |
Musik | Abed Kobeissy |
Lichtdesign & Szenografie | Guillaume Tesson |
Typografie | Ali Assi |
Grafikdesign | Chadi Aoun |
Text | Isabelle Aoun |
Fotos | Christian Altorfer |
Production
Produktion | Ali Chahrour |
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Koproduktion | Kunstfest Weimar, Culture Resource, Les Rencontres à l’échelle Festival (Marseille), Hammana Artist House, Houna Center, Art Jameel, Zürcher Theater Spektakel |
Premiere | 23. Juli 2021, Al Madina Theatre (Beirut, Libanon) |
Rote Fabrik, Aktionshalle
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Dance, Forbidden Love and Poetic Singing
Swiss Premiere, Co-production, Nominated for the ZKB Patronage Prize
Duration
50 mins.
Language
without language
Age
14 years plus
An inclusive event
Post-performance talk
Fri 19.8.
Cooperation
An event in collaboration with IG Rote Fabrik
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shows from today- Fr 19.08. 21:00 - 21:50 CHF 35.–/20.–
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