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Performance in Alexandria

Nassim el Raqs#7

Following an artistic residency from April 27th to May 5th, in Alexandria, Egypt, the premiere of SHAPERS took place on the esplanade of the Mosque Abu al-Abbas al Mursi during the 7th edition of the Nassim el Raqs festival/laboratory for in situ creation on May 9th, 2017.

The Abu al-Abbas al Mursi Mosque in Alexandria hosts the tomb of Alexandrine Sufi saint of the same name. After having travelled from Al-Andalus to Morocco, he settled in Alexandria, where he died.

Last May, young dancers trained through the SHAPERS project, Ex Nihilo dance company and the Nassim el-Raqs Festival, had the immense honor of being hosted by the Mosque compound to work on the performance. This experience brought to light important stakes raised by contemporary dance in public and unusual spaces in the euro-med zone today. It demonstrated how certain security and contextual issues, no matter how many constraints they can impose on the development of public space creation, can sometimes be overcome by mobilizing local and international teams, through tight cohesion and forceful ground occupation.

Thank to the support of: CCFD Terres Solidaires, B’saria for Art, The Tourism department of the Alexandrian Governorate, The Swedish Institute, The Spain Embassy in Cairo, Ex Nihilo through The French Institute / the Provence-Alpes-Côte-d’Azur Region

Special thanks to : Cheikh Gaber and The Mosque Abu el Abbes el Morsi, General Ahmed Hegazy, Yasmine Hussein

Images : Nassim el Raqs video team / Editing : Carole Lorthiois

Momkin – espaces de possibles [Marseille, France] aims at initiating and accompanying artistic and cultural projects within cities and territories across the Mediterranean region, by creating, producing, and performing artistic works, as well as through the development of cultural and intercultural projects, of training programmes and awareness building campaigns. Since 2011, Momkin has carried out the Nassim el Raqs festival, featuring artistic initiatives linked to the city of Alexandria.

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NASSIM EL RAQS #7

NASSIM EL RAQS #7 – (Subtitle no longer needed)

EDITORIAL

For seven years, Nassim El Raqs has been searching for the words to describe itself; nevertheless, with time, it keeps reinventing itself. Every year, for many hours, endless discussions have ventured to create a definition that best suits Nassim’s practices and current ambitions.

Fighting hardships, rejecting already trodden tracks, and trying to justly define the vagueness, improvisations, and daily inventions on which we depend to empower this ‘event’, ‘work of art’, ‘artistic endeavor’ or even ‘social malady’… This is Nassim, a constant rewriting.

Today, it seems that we do not need a subtitle: Nassim El Raqs has become a festival, a writing laboratory, and a new space available for artists and the public; above all, Nassim has become one big community.

A community of logic, a community of participation, a big family, a crowd; Nassim reactivates itself every year, in the Spring, to experiment and exchange creative ideas, to make an impact, and to contribute to the progress of the grand Mediterranean society that makes us who we are. A society that is able to think and propagate, starting from the South.

If Alexandria knew how to invent a cosmopolitan model many decades ago, today our modest project for the city also seeks to offer new ways to live together: based on art, culture, creation, and cooperation as the path (and sole possibility) for a humanitarian unity and individual and group liberation.

And so, definitions are of no importance; art and its lexical terminology is not our main focus. What is more urgent is to love each other, get closer, and to create together a happier society for the future.

Many famous choreographers, whom we love deeply, and who cooperated with the festival either recently or many years ago, have decided to share with important contributions. Olivier Dubois will join the opening to work on the vital memory via the adaptation of the text:  Afternoon of a Faun by Nijinsky. Then, Mohamed Fouad will present a remarkable performance featuring Selsela group, the product of the first year of teaching contemporary dance in Alexandria. And for the closure, Ex-Nihilo will demonstrate the fruitful outcome of their months-long cooperation with SHAPERS through dance training in the Mediterranean public spaces.
Other artists will take us to new grounds of experiments and research: wanderings, exploration protocols and camps with Ici-meme, and Aly El Adawy and his Spanish companions.

We are waiting for you in our seventh season in which participation, art, and creativity is as we are and what we pursue; in light of what we shall exchange and our approach to coexisting.

All of this, bear in mind, to forever and always keep on honoring all those who left, and all those we have lost…

Emilie Petit
Nassim El Raqs funder

Momkin – espaces de possibles [Marseille, France] aims at initiating and accompanying artistic and cultural projects within cities and territories across the Mediterranean region, by creating, producing, and performing artistic works, as well as through the development of cultural and intercultural projects, of training programmes and awareness building campaigns. Since 2011, Momkin has carried out the Nassim el Raqs festival, featuring artistic initiatives linked to the city of Alexandria.