Performing "Room" in Dresden | 25 Feb. 2017

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photo by Mia Habis

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After Beirut, Istanbul and Oslo,"Room" was hosted at the infamous Festspielhaus venue in Hellerau, the garden city of Dresden. From theatre/studio building/classroom built by Dalcroze in 1911, to police academy during Nazi times, to hospital and barracks under the Soviets, the Festspielhaus is today an arts and cultural center.

The performance was part of the Mashreq to Maghreb festival curated by Mia Habis and Omar Rajeh, and features Mia Habis (dance), Øyvind Skarbø (drums) and myself on prepared grand piano.

"Room" in Istanbul and Oslo

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"Room" is a dance performance with live accompaniment on prepared piano and drums. It's a collaboration between dancer Mia Habis, drummer Øyvind Skarbø and myself on the piano.

Although the structure of the performance is pretty much set, there's always room for improvisation and no two performances are alike. It's always an incredible experience to perform in different venues and on different grand pianos, let alone different countries. We started off with Lebanon in 2014, followed by Istanbul for the first edition of A Corner In The World Festival, then Oslo to perform at the Coda International Dance Festival 2015, where our venue was nothing other but the old Saint Jacob Church turned into an amazing performance space. 

For more info on Coda Festival, click here

For more info on A Corner In The World Festival, click here

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Room at CO2 Festival

Excited to start a new collaboration with Øyvind Skarbø (drums) and Mia Habis (dance)! Next week we'll be busy setting up the structures for a performance based on improvisations on percussion and drums, prepared piano and dance. 

For more information on the festival and the program, please visit the Maqamat website here - 

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L'Orient Le Jour -

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Mia Habis

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Øyvind Skarbø

The performance entitled Room, is part of CO2 Choreographers & Composers, a new festival opening on September 28th. Our performance is scheduled for September 29th at the Monnot crypt and October 4th in Deir el Qamar!