Event

Choreophobia

25 Sep 2018

Regular hours

Tuesday
10:00 – 18:00

Cost of entry

Free

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Somerset House

London, United Kingdom

Address

Travel Information

  • 6, 9, 11, 13, 15, 23, 77a, 91 and 176, while the River Bus Service can be taken to Embankment and Savoy Piers.
  • Temple, Covent Garden, Charing Cross and Embankment.
  • Charing Cross, Waterloo and Blackfriars.
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The performance, which takes its name from the theory of dancer and choreographer Anthony Shay, examines the intervening occurrence of colonialism and Western thought on Middle Eastern dance practices.

About

TWTMC is pleased to support Lilian Nejatpour's presentation of Choreophobia at Somerset House Studios.

Choreophobia is a choreographed performance with dancers Eva Escrich and Lauren Stewart, accompanied by a sonic mash up edited by Nejatpour.

The work sees Nejatpour's studio practice expand into performance and builds upon her research into Iranian histories as well as continuing an ongoing exploration of her own dual identity through contemporary forms.

The performance aims to interrogate Western involvement in the transformation of gender and sensuality in non-western male bodies, positioning this interference as arguably influencing a phobia toward transgressive gender behaviour and the censoring of fluid forms of gender display. Such manipulation is articulated by Shay as manifesting itself in gender normativity and the exhibition of hyper masculinity within public displays of dance in the Middle East, where, since 1979 in many places such as Tehran, public dancing continues to be a criminal act.

Nejatpour viscerally works through Shay’s concept and critique by placing her own geographical displacement into the choreography, sampling movements and sonic references from her nostalgia for Northern Bassline club culture and juxtaposing these symbolic cyphers alongside a retracing of movements and gestures associated with the now banned Iranian solo improvised dance.

Nejatpour has created a mesmerising performance that works with the body as sculpture in flux, activating forgotten archives of movement and sound whilst troubling cultural relocation and gender stereotypes.

Curated by Nora Almes and Lorén Elhili 
Graphic design by Shawn Sawyers

R.S.V.P Essential

Doors open at 7pm // Performance starts at 7.45 prompt

What to expect? Toggle

CuratorsToggle

Nora-Swantje Almes

Loren Elhili

Exhibiting artistsToggle

Lilian Nejatpour

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