Un/controlled Gestres - 3rd Edition

Islam Elarabi is an Egyptian dancer, instructor and choreographer. Born and raised in Giza city, he has witnessed the evolution of Mahrganat music and dance as he grew up. Islam found inspiration in Mahrganat dance movements as they developed into a rich vocabulary of meaning and into the tools for the instantaneous creation of a storyline. In his project, Islam is experimenting with the many faces of Mahrganat dance.

Safa Baluchi, an Omani interdisciplinary artist, explores identity, self-environment dynamics through performance, fashion, visual art, and installations. Rooted in her Baloch heritage, she draws inspiration from ancestral practices and diverse cultural exposure. Safa's artistic journey is a
continuous evolution, marked by questioning and expression, shaped by her ethnic background and engagement with the digital realm. With the Juniper tree in Baluchistan as a starting point, her project is asking questions about witnessing and belonging.

Nagham Salah Othman is a Sudanese dancer interested in the fusion between contemporary and traditional African dances. She is one of the teachers in the PTP contemporary dance, was among the participants in the “SEEDS” program for the Trainings of Trainers, and teaches afrocontemporary dance in several studios. She started choreographing in 2010 and collaborated with other artists as a dancer, while participating in several festivals. Nagham’s project is inquiring about identity in between cultures, about dance both in Sudanese and Egyptian contexts.

A Palestinian-Jordanian Multidisciplinary artist and designer, specializing in contemporary folk dance. Her solo performance narrates Akka's personal story, named after a city she cannot visit. The performance delves into the concept of place-based belonging, exploring feelings of connection and separation. It raises questions about how the memories of her ancestors and her contemporary experiences have shaped her identity.

Mohanad Smama studied at the Faculty of Physical Education from Gaza City, and one of the pioneers of contemporary performing arts in the Gaza Strip. From 2007, he has been part of the his hip-hop scene, and later on He founded a collective dancing team in Gaza, called "Hai Team for Contemporary Arts".

Mohamed Bouriri, a Moroccan dancer known as "Polini," found his dance passion in Casablanca at 14, excelling in break dancing with We The Lions and earning acclaim as the "Best Moroccan Crew." His journey expanded in 2018 with Cie 2KAFAR, leading to performances for the Moroccan royal family. Collaborating with prestigious companies, Mohamed fuses urban and contemporary dance in notable works. Beyond stages, he mentors and teaches dance, leaving an indelible global mark.

Jamal is a Jordanian artist, dancer, choreographer, and director. With a solid academic background in risk management, Jamal brings a unique blend of analytical thinking and creative expression to his work. He is committed to pushing the boundaries of performing arts and creating captivating performances that inspire and move audiences by raising awareness towards psychosocial urban issues. Whether performing, choreographing, directing, or managing projects, Jamal is always eager to embrace new challenges and opportunities for artistic expression.

Sarah Almoneem is a Syrian choreographer and performer. In 2023, she performed her first performance called -There- which is about transitions and their impact on the people living them. Now she is starting on her second solo in which she explores the changes in her body and her relationship with memories stemming from herself, the cities she lived in, the illusions and the panic attacks after approaching her third decade.

Born in Algiers and operating from Brussels, Nedjma Hadj Benchelabi is a curator and dramaturge. Until 2013, she was programmer at the European Cultural Centre, Les Halles, where she contributed to a program on Contemporary Literature and Performing arts of the Arab world. She was involved as the guest curator in the ‘Arab Art Focus’ at Downtown Contemporary Arts Festival (D-CAF, Cairo, 2016-2018), and curator at the multidisciplinary festival, Tashweesh with the Goethe-Institut in Cairo, and at the Beurschouwburg in Brussels. From 2019 onwards, she has been the curator of Mahmoud Darwish Legacy program, a multidisciplinary platform from Brussels and beyond. Recently, she is the dramaturgical advisor for the curation of the festival program of Tanz August (August 2023, Berlin) and Taklif at the Festival “On Marche” in Marrakech..

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”.

Nermin Habib is an Egyptian artist and contemporary dancer and choreographer with a bachelor-degree in Philosophy and a 3-year-degree in Contemporary Dance from “CCDC – Cairo Contemporary Dance Center”. She is a member of International Dance Council "CID-UNISCO" France. In 2016, she joined the first Interdisciplinary Music Theatre Group in Cairo. In 2020, Habib established and co-founded "ECHO", an independent company implementing community art projects outside the capital. Nermin also leads workshops and other educational projects in contemporary and Baladi dance for women, children, and less-able groups, aiming to change negative thinking patterns in learning through dance regardless of age, gender, or social role.

Petra Poelzl is an Austrian curator, dramaturge and researcher, based in Berlin. Poelzl is working as a curator for dance and performance at HAU Hebbel am Ufer (Berlin), where she co-curated the festival "Spirits, Jinns & Avatars: On Magic in the Digital Age" as well as the upcoming festival "Love is a Verb". She has been working for Steirischer Herbst Festival for New Art in Graz (Austria) as well as for Wiener Festwochen (Austria). Poelzl has been guest lecturer at the Free University of Berlin as well as Academy of Applied Arts Vienna and Academy of Fine Arts Vienna.

A versatile multi-instrumentalist, arranger, and composer, Nancy Mounir is a key member of Egypt’s alternative music scene. She contributes original music to theatre productions, films, and international art installations. Mounir plays a range of instruments - including violin, piano, bass, Theremin, and the traditional Egyptian bamboo flute called the kawala - and in the process she has explored both the harmonic principles of the Western canon and the microtonal foundations of
Arabic maqam (musical modes). Lately she has stepped further into the limelight with her solo debut album Nozhet El Nofous - a transcendent exploration of musical freedom through the lens of century-old archival recordings.