YOU SHOULD HAVE SEEN ME DANCING WALTZ

What does a war leave in its wake? How does a human body rise up as a wall? Rabih Mroué - political, harsh, poetic - creates a choreography that treats a trauma shared by many. The work of the celebrated Rabih Mroué is a magnifying glass that, through his own experiences of war and political struggle, reminds us that trauma is common to all, and so subjective that it can’t be forgotten. 
 

A mature, multi-layered and moving work that cleverly and skilfully transfers images of violence and longing for humanity into the bodies and thus makes them directly experienceable for the audience. Annette Stiekele, Hamburger Abendblatt, 16 November 2019

"Art should not be activist. Art is a platform to think. A platform to question ourselves, to question our beliefs. It's not to give conclusions, it's a place where we put doubts on our thoughts, on our ideas. It's to create a dialogue, a debate, a conversation." Rabih Mroué

​

“You should have seen me dancing waltz” is an exploration of the concept of the wall as “protection” but also as a border between “inside” and “outside,” the “personal” and the “public,” in which the dancer’s skin also becomes the vehicle for an allegory. Rabih Mroué himself has said: “The body of the dancer as a wall to project from inside to outside and from outside to inside; transparent with its opaqueness. Could it be true that the skin is a demarcation line between the out and the in? And if yes, then is there a war between the two sides? A civil war?” The human body goes under the microscope in Rabih Mroué’s painful but always poetic way.

​

Rabih Mroué: "This dance piece will investigate the idea of the wall in relation to a dancer’s body through the border-wall notions on the one hand and the skin of a human body on the other hand and both as a separation between the so-called “outside” and “inside”, between the “private” and the “public, between “here” and “there”.
The wall as a promise for providing us a shelter and security, a fence that protects us from enemies and from illness; from death.
The skin as a malleable wall for the body and rigid invisible border for traditions, taboos and habits.
When does it close and when does it open?
What thickness? What color of skin? What scars? What age? How does it change within time? When does it collapse?
Invisible walls inside the body and inside the city.
Resistance and time.
Dead thick skin.
The body of the dancer as a wall to project from inside to outside and from outside to inside; transparent with its opaqueness. Could it be true that the skin is a demarcation line between the out and the in? And if yes, then is there a war between the two sides? A civil war?”

​

RABIH MROUÉ

Rabih Mroué, born in Beirut in 1967, is actor, director, author and ranks among the most important Lebanese contemporary artists. He is also editor of the Lebanese magazines “Kalamon” and “The Drama Review”, as well as co-founder and board member of the Beirut Art Center Association (BAC). Rabih Mroué works at the interface of performance and visual arts. His productions deal with the political situation in Lebanon and frequently combine everyday real material with self-created fictive narration. Rabih Mroué frequently works with Lina Majdalanie. His performances, such as “The Inhabitants of Images” (2008), “Photo-Romance” (2009), “33 Rounds and a few seconds” (2012) as well as most recently “Riding on a cloud” (2014), have been represented at theaters and festivals around the world. His work “The Pixelated Revolution” (2012) was displayed at Documenta 13. During the 2015/16 season Rabih Mroué staged “Ode to Joy”, his first production at the Münchner Kammerspiele. As part of Spielart, the Münchner Kammerspiele are also presenting “Riding on a cloud”. In February 2017, the retrospective “Image War Machine” took place at the Münchner Kammerspiele. During the retrospective, Rabih Mroués work “Rima Kamel” was shown for the first time. “Rima Kamel” is still in the Repertoire of the Münchner Kammerspiele.

​

Rabih Mroué has a strong connection to the Dance On Ensemble. In 2016 he created “Water between three hands” with the company, followed by “Elephant” in 2018. He was also one of the three stage musicians in "Berlin Story" (August 2019).