TOLD BY MY MOTHER

Following sold-out performances in 2019, the Lebanese choreographer and director Ali Chahrour gained resounding acclaim from the Weimar press and audiences alike. “In this evening’s performance […] resides a primal force and enchanting beauty,” wrote Michael Helbing in the THÜRINGER ALLGEMEINE ZEITUNG. Chahrour’s dance piece, which debuted at the AL MADINA THEATER Beirut, explores themes of love and responsibility in two families who have been scarred by war and violence. Having witnessed and suffered unspeakable horrors, it was the mothers who ended up sacrificing themselves, fighting for and saving their families. But in their bodies and their voices, the traumas continue to haunt them. Instead of suppressing these memories, they try to remember. They want to talk about the tragedies of love and war, of devotion and loss. In doing so, the families attempt to find a way back to normality and their formerly intact lives.

In this production, members of both families assume the roles of witnesses on stage. Chahrour’s reference is the search of his aunt whose son remained missing in the Syrian war. Together with his ensemble of dancers and musicians, Chahrour translates the virtual physicality of the women´s words into visually evocative choreography, inspired by the movement repertoire of traditional Shiite rituals of northern Lebanon.