To Catch A Terrorist
Production of Adham Hafez Company and HaRaKa Platform (Egypt)
Performed in English, Arabic, French, Latin
To Catch A Terrorist is a cryptic work that looks at the formation of disciplined bodies, borders and the instrumentalist usage of fear as a sovereign act. Through data analysis, exorcist dances, demographic research, court hearing documents, visa applications, and disappearing traditional choreographies — this new work enmeshes science, history, performance and law.
A new Choreopera; utilizing different movement writing techniques, a sound archive, and space making strategies to create an ominous score that wonders whose lives (and therefore intangible heritage) matter. At the crux of the piece -technically- is the question of what choreography is, as the company’s artists engaged with notions of choreo-policing and city making, both from the perspectives of urban studies and dance studies.
CREATIVE TEAM
Production of Adham Hafez Company/ HaRaKa Platform, with the support of Kuchar&C
Performers: Lamia Gouda, Mona Gamil, and guests
Guest performer: Irene Monti Hultman
Choreography and Text by: Adham Hafez
Data Analysis by: Adam Kucharski
Research by: Sawsan Gad and Lamia Gouda
Costume Consultant and Designs by: Mona Hamid/ Monzlapur New York
Accessories Design by: Redaa Gharib
Live Drawing by: Manar Abdelmaaboud
Music by: Adham Hafez and Nader Hafez
Space Consultant: Samir Kordy and Mohamed Hafez
Visual Research by: Marco Mezzavilla and Waad Taai
Photography: Mike McCormack
Light Design: Marie Yokoyama
Stage Management: Hjordis Linn-Blanford
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Choreographer, composer and performer, Adham Hafez studied contemporary dance at the Cairo Opera House before he moved to Amsterdam for his MA in Choreography, at the Amsterdam Theatre School, where he studied under Susan Rethorst, Benoit Lachambre, Cher Doruff among others. With a second MA in political science from SciencePo (Paris), Hafez’s work tilts towards studying what political art is at times of catastrophic change, having studied with Bruno Latour the impact of the human on nature; physically, artistically and politically. Awarded for his work as a choreographer, composer and cultural entrepreneur, Adham Hafez is currently a PhD candidate at New York University, revisiting his 15 years long research on Arab performance history. Adham Hafez publishes in Arabic and English on Arab art history and performance theory. He is the program director of HaRaKa, the first movement and performance research platform in Egypt. He is also the curator for the “TransDance” festival series and the founder of “Cairography”, the first publication in Egypt dedicated to critical writing on choreography and performance.
Established in 2003 (Egypt), Adham Hafez Company’s productions investigate choreography, performance and sound through live acts, installations, publications, screenings and performance. With work that was installed and performed in reputable venues and contexts including Damascus Opera House (Syria), Hebbel Am Ufer Theater (Germany),Impusltanz Vienna (Austria), UNESCO’s International Dance Council (Greece), German Dance Congress (Germany), Cairo Opera House (Egypt), and MoMA PS1 (USA), the diverse work reflects on historical ruptures, critical density, rituals, and the condition of being an Arab subject within myopic discourses. In 2006, several of the company members established HaRaKa;
Egypt’s first movement and performance studies and research platform, through which they led publications, festivals, and educational programs. Fifteen years after the company’s establishment, the artists gather their core questions and accumulated aesthetic strategies to reflect on neocolonialism, planetary crisis and war economies. www.adhamhafez.co www.harakaplatform.com
La MaMa Moves! Dance Festival
La MaMa Moves! Dance Festival continues to support La MaMa’s commitment to presenting diverse performance styles that challenge audience’s perception of dance by featuring performance/installations, experimental film screenings & public symposiums which address dance artists’ engagement with the current political climate, as well as honoring diasporic histories and legacy, ancestral inspirations and inter-generational dialogue.
Special Event
Join us after the Sunday, May 13th performance for a post-show talk back with NYU’s Professor Karen Shimakawa
Karen Shimakawa is an associate professor and academic associate dean at New York University. Her research and teaching focus on critical race theory, law and performance and Asian American performance. Karen is the author of National Abjection: The Asian American Body Onstage (2003) and co-editor of Orientations: Mapping Studies in the Asian Diaspora (2001). She is currently researching a project on the political and ethical performativity of discomfort.