OMAR RAJEH

For Omar Rajeh, performance is an act of gathering and shared experience in this piece. A dancing body makes its own rules, its own structures and its own sources of inspiration – an act of hope in the face of power structures that suppress such dynamics, pushing them towards conformity and fear. Alone on stage, Rajeh dances and talks about an intimate past that no longer exists, an image that fades and deceives. A past that didn’t carry into the future, but came to a halt. Images, meanings, emotions, people and joyful moments, all frozen in time. As if dealing today with a world without a past. As if today’s story jars with the memories of his former life.

Omar Rajeh, choreographer and dancer, is a leading figure on the contemporary dance scene in Lebanon and the Arab world. He founded Maqamat in Beirut in 2002. In December 2019, he relocated to France and set up his company in the city of Lyon. In 2021, the French Ministry of Culture honoured him “for his contribution and engagement in the service of culture” with the title of Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters). He has performed with his company in more than a hundred cities around the globe.

Conception, scenography and choreography Omar Rajeh / Cocreation Mia Habis / Dramaturgy Peggy Olislaegers / Musical composition Joss Turnbull and Charbel Haber / Light design and technical director Christian François / Administracion Ilitza Georgieva / Coordinació Amina Onsy / Thanks CN D à Lyon, Sima Performing Arts-Alserkal Avenue, Amadeus – école de danse et de musique
With the support DRAC Auvergne Rhône-Alpes