19 April 2007

INTERVIEW

BEIRUT: A bare-chested man tenderly embraces his lover's inert body. She is blindfolded and hangs almost mechanically from his arms. From behind a wall of sheet metal bathed in the glow of a single spotlight, numerous limbs reach out to the audience and a man's frantic expression flashes through a window of the barricade. From now through April 29, the Monnot Theater and Masrah al-Madina are playing host to these scenes and more with nightly performances of local and global contemporary dance companies for the celebrated Beirut International Platform of Dance (Bi-Pod).

"My priority is to establish a contemporary dance scene in the region," explains Omar Rajeh, the founder of both Bi-Pod and the company Maqamat Theater Dance, "and to create more interactions with the world outside of this region."

Bringing together artists and troupes from over a dozen countries, Bi-Pod aims to develop local creative potential and prepare such talents to help build a professionalized dance scene in Lebanon and the region that is of its time instead of steeped in nostalgia for eras past. By hosting artists from several continents, Bi-Pod also acts as a space to introduce new international performers, choreographers and artists to the Middle East.

"People always ask: 'What is contemporary dance?'" Rajeh says. "With Bi-Pod I hope to introduce a contemporary concept. In a sense, for me, contemporary dance is about introducing different ideas, structures, ways of thinking, ways of looking at things and ways of creating meaning."

Founded in 2004 by Rajeh's Maqamat in collaboration with the Monnot Theater, this is Bi-Pod's third edition. (The festival was canceled in 2005 following the assassination of former Premier Rafik Hariri and the subsequent political turmoil.) That skipped year notwithstanding, the event has grown tremendously since its inception. Bi-Pod tripled the size of its audience from 2004 to 2006. And this year, the festival has literally grown new legs, expanding into Amman and Ramallah via a cooperative network of cultural initiatives called Masahat.

The brainchild of a meeting between the Haya Cultural Center in Jordan and Palestine's Seryyat Ramallah this past October, Masahat works on developing, researching and experimenting with contemporary artistic movements in the region. Based on "the need for cultural and social exchange that embraces creativity," the project hopes to create more opportunities for the concept and practice of contemporary dance in the Middle East.

Masahat means "landscapes," but judging by the line-up of this year's performances for Bi-Bod, the nightly presentations will have little to do with the pastel seaside views or shady garden studies frequently hung on hotel walls.

Instead Masahat's landscapes are made manifest through movements of the body and amid the graceful upheavals of form and concept in the mind.

Bi-Pod opened last night at the Monnot Theater with "Coreografia de Cordel," an hour-long performance by the Brazilian company Cia de Danca Palacio das Artes. A show of unusual breadth, "Coreografia de Cordel" is the result of a collaboration lasting several years among artists and researchers of dance, the visual arts, literature, theater and anthropology.

Other highlights of the festival include Lebanon's Yalda Younes, who will be returning to Beirut from a stint in Spain to present an interpretive flamenco dance titled "Ask the Dust." Younes' personal style draws from two primary sources of inspiration - flamenco dancers of the 1930s and her native city, Beirut (she currently divides her time between here and Paris). As she moves, her body translates the loss of loved ones and a vanished city for an audience harboring its own sensitive memories and recollections.

On April 19, the Okhela Dance Theater will bring the experiences of black South Africans to the Lebanese stage. Okhela is a company concerned with empowering young people through dance and theater, tools they see as a "means to break down existing barriers ... and create understanding between previously segregated people." The company's performance draws from their own violent history yet challenges their audience to be proactive.

"For whatever mistakes committed ... apartheid has become the natural culprit ... even where we should ideally be blaming our own laziness," Okhela says in a statement.

Bi-Pod's diverse lineup struggles to make sense of and communicate issues as esoteric as the inherent paradoxes of the human condition, yet strives to make connections with the experience of Lebanon's most recent war and the more general concept of state borders in the 21st century.

Challenging the physical and aesthetic boundaries of the form, Bi-Pod's performances offer a range of intellectual and sensory experiences that are sure to resonate with audiences.

"The most important thing is to live, to be present in life and to express your thoughts and ideas to others," says Rajeh.

"The focuses of these performances are the concepts, the philosophies and the ideas behind the dance," he adds. "This is the core issue."

The Beirut International Platform of Dance continues through April 29. All shows begin at 8:30 p.m. For more information and a full schedule of performances, please call +961 3 344 068, +961 1 202 422 or +961 1 753 010