Three Rooms at Dancing On The Edge, Amsterdam

Performance; skype, internet, text, colored gaff tape, computer, webcam, colored pens, paper.
Duration 1.10hr.
Performed Dancing On The Edge Festival, Amsterdam 11/17
Artists Amal Omran, Onur Karaoglu, Kathryn Hamilton, Hatem Hadawe, Jurjen Alkema

Photos by Giath Taha and Jelle Ijntema

Our performance of Three Rooms at Dancing On The Edge, Amsterdam was the version we had created for Cologne, an adaptation of the original performance in London. When we first created this piece, we were responding to the pressures that Hatem and Amal were facing - visas, restricted mobility, uncertain and uncontrollable futures. We wanted to create a form that could adapt to the realities of the world that we found ourselves in, so we created a piece that is performed predominantly as a live-film on skype. However, for this performance, Hatem was in the hospital, and unable to skype, so we adapted the piece again - not to replace him, but to rearrange our materials so that he his absence can also be a part of the performance. 

The performance in Cologne began with an invitation to the audience to join us in an action, one that we hoped would bring together the Three Rooms of our performance. We invited the audience to begin to draw on the paper covered floor - to draw without taking their pens from the paper, and without crossing a line that had already been drawn. The exercise comes to an end as each person finds themselves restricted to a smaller and smaller area, finally trapped in by their own and others lines. At this point the second part of the performance begins, as Suhair calls in from Paris, and Onur, live in the room, tries to represent for us the actions and words of Hatem. 

Dancing On The Edge was founded in 2006 and takes place in Amsterdam, The Hague, Utrecht and Rotterdam. It programs contemporary theater, dance, film, music and installations, and is focused on artistic exchange between Europe, the Middle East and North Africa.

The Festival magazine included an essay by Kathryn Hamilton on Virtual Reality and Orientalism, previously published in New Inquiry.

The 2017 edition of the festival included work by the artists:
Enkidu Khaled / Chris Keulemans
Atefeh Tehrani
Shaymaa Shoukry
Stephanie Kayal
Ryan Djojokarso / Ossama Halal
Alma Salem
Amira Chebli
Lina Issa/ Mayar Alexan
Aziz Nadif
Bouchra Ouizguen
DOX
Hani Sami
Koon Theater Group
Mariam Hammoud
Mithkal Alzghair
Mayar Alexan
Mey Seifan
Mohamed el Deep
Mohammad Abou Laban
Ossama Halal
Rima Khcheich
Ziad Adwan

For information on the other versions of this performance:

Shubbak Festival, London, July 2017
Urbang Festival, Cologne, October 2017
Prelude Festival, New York, October 2017
Bozar, Brussels, and Les Bancs Publics / la Friche de la Belle de Mai, Marseille