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Egypt

Un|Controlled Gestures – 4th Edition

Un|controlled Gestures Goethe-Institut Kairo

About

The program “Un|Controlled Gestures” aims at supporting choreographic creations within contemporary dance practices which centre on notions of body politics and poetics, intimate and collective memories that go beyond the known and written. For its 4th edition, choreographers from Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and Tunisia were selected. The artists get the chance to develop their choreographic creations during two residencies in Cairo and Dresden/Berlin as well as benefitting from mentorship and a production grant.

"Un|controlled Gestures - 4th Edition" is an initiative of the Goethe-Institut in cooperation with HAU Hebbel am Ufer Berlin and HELLERAU – European Center for the Arts (Dresden), curated by Nedjma Hadj Benchelabi. 

Curatorial statement

by Nedjma Hadj Benchelabi
 

by Nedjma Hadj Benchelabi
In a trembling world, bodies seek new pathways — performative languages from and within Arab cultures that move beyond locality and transcend borders. Un|Controlled Gestures – 4th Edition invites artists to reflect upon present instability, reshaping bodily knowledge into new performative vocabularies.
The notion of “shaking up bodies' languages” suggests a radical reimagining: challenging inherited forms, embracing transformation, and allowing movement to articulate multiple layers of intimate and collective experiences. Exploring sources of strength and resistance that the body carries to transform them in a performative process.

This edition invites artists to embark on a dual journey: personal artistic exploration and collective experimentation. Through a newly introduced format of collaborative jam sessions, participants will question and redefine concepts such as solidarity, agreement, and shared spaces. Togetherness is not assumed but constructed, dismantled, and reassembled through creative space.

This project serves as both initiation and invitation: a process of learning from one another while embracing the equally vital act of un-learning. Introducing artists to the city and local art field is seen as a fertile ground to explore, disrupt, and reimagine their practice.

Un-Controlled Gestures – 4th Edition is a call to inhabit the trembling.
The thought of trembling surges from all around [...] It protects us from thinking of systems and systems of thought. It does not imply fear or irresolution; but spreads infinitely like an untold bird, its wings sown with the black salt of the earth. It brings us together in absolute diversity, in a whirlwind of encounters. A utopia that never settles and that opens up tomorrow, like a shared sun and fruit.
Translation by the Goethe-Institut: Édouard Glissant, La Cohée du Lamentin. Poétique V, Gallimard, 2005.
“La pensée du tremblement surgit de partout […] Elle nous préserve des pensées de système et des systèmes de pensée. Elle ne suppose pas la peur ou l’irrésolu, elle s’étend infiniment comme un oiseau innumérable, les ailes semées du sel noir de la terre. Elle nous réassemble dans l’absolue diversité, en un tourbillon de rencontres. Utopie qui jamais ne se fixe et qui ouvre demain, comme un soleil et un fruit partagés.” 

Édouard Glissant, La Cohée du Lamentin. Poétique V, Gallimard, 2005.

Timeline and locations

Artists

  • Ahmed Ben Abid

    Ahmed Ben Abid is a Tunisian multidisciplinary artist working at the intersection of dance, sound, and social activism. His work explores migration, identity, and collective memory. His debut piece “Unwell” (2023) stages two characters grappling with isolation and societal corruption. His new project “Unknown Sea” examines migration, resilience, and the youth’s struggle with disillusionment and transformation in post-revolution Tunisia. Ben Abid contributes to international projects and is a member of Theatre Building, a global performance-technology collective.

  • Christophe Al Haber

    Christophe Al Haber is a multidisciplinary artist working across photography, contemporary dance, and live performance. Trained in physical theatre, his work is rooted in movement and shaped by personal experience. Through body, image, and space, Christophe explores themes of identity, connection, and transformation. His practice is a continuous search for meaning, using movement as a way to relate to the world around him.

  • Dana Amer

    Dana Amer grew up in a Syrian-Ukrainian family and trained as a rhythmic gymnast from age six, later joining the Syrian national team. At age eleven, she began dancing ballet which sparked her love for dance. After retiring from gymnastics, Dana embraced contemporary dance when her family moved to Beirut, Lebanon, performing with leading companies including Beirut Contemporary Ballet and Sima Dance Company. In 2023 and 2024, Dana did a one-year intensive program in Madrid. Today, she continues to develop her choreographic voice and unique movement vocabulary.

  • Emran Almareen

    Emran Almareen, also known as Bboy Mowgli, is a Bedouin Jordanian dancer from Petra, skilled in both breakdancing and contemporary dance. Starting at age 12, he has performed across the Middle East and Europe, representing Jordan in festivals like On Marche (Morocco) and Alma Alter Ego (Bulgaria). Emran is largely self-taught, with additional training through workshops in contemporary dance, hip-hop, contact improvisation, folk, and modern dance - earning wide recognition in the local and international dance scene.

  • Hadir Nached

    Hadir Nached is a multidisciplinary artist working across visual arts, sculpture, dance, performance and discovering her passion currently in Social Circus. Her practice explores the relationship between the body and the public sphere. Often thought-provoking, her work engages with social issues and unfolds in public and site-specific spaces. She has performed in collective works at festivals such as CDN, Theater is a Must, BIPOD, Nassim El Raqs, and D-CAF, and took part in the Silsilah Dance Program’s final piece, “Falling”. Her solo performances include “A Disturbing Wait” and “EX-OTIC”.

  • Moayed El Ghazouani

    Moayed El Ghazouani is a Tunisian performer and physical theatre maker whose work blends dance, theatre, and sound into multidisciplinary aesthetic forms. His practice transcends these categorizations, driven by a desire to speak truth. Trained in theatre and movement, he has participated in diverse performance projects across Tunisia, Denmark, and Italy, while simultaneously pursuing theoretical research in cultural studies. His work explores themes of transformation, survival, and the politics of visibility. His recent piece ”Rouheb” won Best Scenography in the Creative Seasons program by the Tunisian National Theatre in 2023.

Momen Nabil

Momen Nabil is an Egyptian Architect, ex-gymnastics athlete, contemporary dancer, co-founder of non-studio, and a master degree holder in ephemeral architecture and temporary space design from Elisava, Barcelona in 2021. Momen is a gradute of Cairo Contemporary Dance Center. His experience continues to expand as a creative director. He aspires to find new ways to use architecture and performance for visual storytelling.

Nedjma Hadj Benchelabi

Mentors

  • Ali Chahrour

    Born in Beirut, the choreographer and dancer Ali Chahrour, invents a gesture, freed from Western codes and models, which acts as a reflection of his culture and the political, social, and religious context in which he evolves. In his trilogy “Death”, he summoned funeral liturgies mixing tradition with a sharp modernity. He then undertook a second trilogy devoted to “Love”, of which “The Love Behind My Eyes” won the ZKB Patronage prize at the 2022 Zurich Theater Spektakel. Currently, he is preparing to work on a new trilogy around the theme of “Fear”.

  • Annegret Schalke

    Annegret Schalke lives and works as a dancer/choreographer and lighting designer in Berlin. She holds a master degree in mathematics and completed her studies in dance, context, choreography at the HZT Berlin. In her lighting designs she is interested in installational approaches, in bold appearances of light as an agent of choreography, but also in the mechanisms of subtle guidance of attention through light. She is also interested in ways of creating communication between light, sound and video.

    A picture of Annegret Schalke © Private © Private

  • Youssra El Hawary

    Youssra El Hawary is a composer, singer-songwriter, accordionist, and sound designer. She has led her band since 2011 and has collaborated with a wide range of artists across genres and disciplines. Since 2020, Youssra has contributed sound design to films, performances, and art installations. Her latest EP, Taraddud, marks her debut as a producer, blending Cairo’s field recordings with original compositions and lyrics. Over the years, Youssra has led numerous songwriting, sound design, and improvisation workshops, and hosted the radio program Music Talk on NogoumFM (2014–2015).

    A portrait picture of Youssra El Hawary © Private © Private

Cooperation partners

  • HAU Hebbel am Ufer

    HAU Hebbel am Ufer stands with its four stages, HAU1, HAU2 and HAU3, and since 2020 the digital stage HAU4, for current artistic positions at the interface of theatre, dance and performance. Additionally, music, visual arts, and discursive formats are essential components of the programme, which connects the vibrant artistic scene in homebase Berlin with strong international voices.

    HAU logo HAU logo

  • HELLERAU – European Centre for the Arts

    HELLERAU – European Centre for the Arts was founded as festival house and academy for musical and rhythmic education in 1911. Today, HELLERAU acts as an interdisciplinary and international centre for dance, performance, music, theatre, media art and visual arts. HELLERAU offers spaces for productions, festivals, residencies, concerts, exhibitions and discourse, cooperates with various regional cultural partners and is firmly connected internationally.

    HELLERAU – European Centre for the Arts HELLERAU – European Centre for the Arts

Un|Controlled Gestures - Editionen 1 bis 3

Contact

In case you have any questions, please contact the Goethe-Institut Cairo via mail: meret.arnold@goethe.de

Previous Editions