Kollektiv ofring, et dødsritual.

Hva kan ofring bety i dag? Kan offer ses på som en poetisk og konkret handling, noe hverdagslig som finner sted i alle menneskers liv? Hva vil det si å ofre seg, enten det er kollektivt eller individuelt?

Seks dansere, en musiker, et eldgammelt tre-strenget instrument og publikum. Sammen skaper vi tanker, minner og historier. Gjennom forestillingen bringer danserne med seg spor fra eget individuelt, kunstnerisk arbeid som skaper et bevegelsesmateriale som sammen utgjør Hooman Sharifis forestilling. Den enkelte tar sin plass og utfører egne, fysiske offer. Ettersom tiden går vil dansernes fysikalitet, pusten deres og tilstedeværelsen av publikum skape en sammenheng som er større enn det enkelte individet, og en følelse av samhørighet som bygger på en villighet til offer og til å møte hverandre der vi er.

Til musikken fra Tambur, et eldgammelt instrument som spilles live av Arash Moradi, skaper dette fantastiske teamet av dansere et direkte og jordnært uttrykk der ofring som en hverdagslig handling er hovedtema. I likhet med danserne i denne forestillingen har også Hooman Sharifi bakgrunn fra Iran. Han er en markant dansekunstner i Norge og internasjonalt.

av og med:
Tara Fatehi Irani, Ali Moini, Ehsan Hemat, Hooman Sharifi, Sepideh Khodarahmi, Ashkan Afsharian, Masoumeh Jalalieh, Kamelia Javadi og Parvin Saljoughi
Koreografi, regi og lys: Hooman Sharifi
Original musikk, live: Arash Moradi
Lyd: Terje Wessel Øverland
Lystekniker: Martin Myrvold 

Produsent: Rikke Baewert og Kristin Skiftun 

Foto: Arash a Nejad/Nyebilder 

Samprodusenter: Montpellier dans, Theatre de la Ville – Paris, Julidans – Amsterdam, Dansens Hus – Oslo 

En impure company produksjon støttet av Norsk Kulturråd og UD 

Text in English:

Collective sacrifice, a death ritual.

What can sacrifice mean today? Can sacrifice be seen as a poetic and concrete act, something that takes place in people’s every day lives? What does it mean to sacrifice, whether collectively or individually?

Six dancers, a musician, an ancient three-stringed instrument and the audience. Together we create thoughts, memories and stories. Throughout the performance, the dancers bring with them traces of their own individual, artistic work which creates a movement material that together makes up Hooman Sharifi’s performance. The individual takes his place and makes his own physical sacrifices. As time goes on, the physicality of the dancers, their breathing and the presence of the audience will create a connection that is greater than the individual, and a sense of togetherness based on a willingness to sacrifice and to meet each other where we are.

To the music of the Tambur, an ancient instrument played live by Arash Moradi, this wonderful team of dancers creates a direct and down-to-earth expression where sacrifice as an everyday act is the main theme. Like the dancers in this performance, Hooman Sharifi also has a background from Iran. He is a prominent dance artist in Norway and internationally.

What Hooman Sharifi has to say about the production:

In Sacrifice While Lost in Salted Earth, we have taken inspiration from the Iranian language Farsi , poetry and the traditional sound of the tambura, but also from Igor Stravinsky’s iconic work, the Rite of Spring.

In Farsi, we frequently use the expressions janam (my life), ghorbanet beram (I sacrifice myself for you) and fadat sham (I die for you) in everyday speech, in a huge range of contexts. In poetry, dying from love or going mad because of it tend to be celebrated as the high points of someone’s life.

I have thought a lot about whether there are parallels in the Norwegian language, and the nearest I get is the Early Norwegian dugnad, which means a kind of community work. It might not sound as dramatic or poetic as the Iranian version, but I love the way individuals have to stand together, work together and sacrifice themselves for a common good.

Dance and music have always been and still are a major part of the Iranian culture. Everyone dances in social contexts, but today, dance as an art form in public is illegal. Despite this, there are still many people who try again and again to develop dance as a theatrical expression, but they face extreme opposition, to put it mildly. These people are courageous and sacrifice themselves.

We are very lucky to have with us the incredible musician Arash Moradi, who has an enormous understanding of and respect for the tambura and its tradition. He is also extremely open, and has the ability to experiment and find new ways. For four months, Arash and I have been developing the music for this production. We have travelled back and forth, up and down with Stravinsky’s music and all the opportunities presented to us by the rich traditions of the tambura.

Our goal is to create a direct, down-to-earth and specific expression of movement, in which every individual takes an independent place and performs their own physical sacrifice. The group gradually expands; with time there are more and more of us, and something happens in which the sum of the whole is greater than ourselves. An auditorium with eight dancers, one musician playing an ancient three-stringed instrument, and our essential partner: the audience. Together, we will awaken thoughts, memories and imagination.

In today’s society, we need a kind of collective sacrifice. Everyone must sacrifice themselves as an independent choice, because if sacrifice is going to work today, the victim has to make the decision for themselves. Sacrifice is a constant. You do not sacrifice yourself to death, but you continually sacrifice something of yourself in life.