A poetic exploration of the body in diaspora

Alphabets of Flesh door ROVER | Roshanak Morrowatian

In the dance performance Alphabets of Flesh, choreographer and dancer Roshanak Morrowatian makes tangible what it is like to be a body in diaspora. Together with dancer Mami Izumi, she depicts the fragmented experience of time and space of people who have left their homeland. The dance performance will premiere at the Nederlandse Dansdagen 2024 and will be shown at AINSI from Oct. 4 to 6.

A special version of the performance will take place on Oct. 10 at the first Dutch solo exhibition of Polish artist Małgorzata Mirga-Tas at the Bonnefanten in Maastricht. The Bonnefanten invited Morrowatian to comment on the work of Małgorzata Mirga-Tas and Morena Bamberger.

The female diaspora perspective in the work of Mirga-Tas and Bamberger is the inspiration for the special version of Alphabets of Flesh. Morrowatian and Izumi dance among the artworks, depicting what memories and experiences are stored in your body when you are displaced.

Curator Nina Folkersma will hold a brief introduction prior to the performance.

Please note! Online presale is €16.50 per ticket. At the daytime box office, it is €17.50. A ticket also gives access to the rest of the Bonnefanten.

More about the exhibition

The exhibition This is not the end of the road includes one of the most important and largest works in the oeuvre of Mirga-Tas: Re-enchanting the World. She created it for the Polish Pavilion at the 2022 Venice Biennale as an attempt to expand the art history and idiom of Europe with representations of the Roma culture. This series is accompanied in the exhibition by other work that is typical of Mirga-Tas, as well as new works and ones that have never been exhibited before.

Mirga-Tas (Zakopane, 1978) belongs to the Roma culture; an originally nomadic people who are spread over large parts of the world. She works in various media, but is renowned mainly for her large-scale textile works, in which she celebrates the Roma identity from a feminist perspective, stripping it of prejudices.

Meer about the makers

Roshanak Morrowatian (Iran, 1989) obtained her BA in dance and MA in dance composition from Folkwang University of the Arts (D). She danced in the works of Marina Abramović, Pina Bausch, and Isabelle Beernaert, among others. In 2021, she founded dance company Rover together with Mami Izumi.

Rover creates interdisciplinary dance performances based on the fervent desire for a more harmonious society. Unnoticed details, invisible people and forgotten stories are given a leading role in our performances. With her performance Kites , for example, she gave a voice to refugee children and with House of Strength she transformed a male, Persian tradition into a paragon of inclusion. Her work has been awarded the BNG Bank Dance Award and the Dutch Dance Days Award, among others.

Credits

Concept, direction and choreography: Roshanak Morrowatian
Dance: Roshanak Morrowatian & Mami Izumi
Final direction: Nilay Ceber
Composition: Rutger Zuydervelt
Light design: Loes Schakenbos
Videography: Laisvie Andrea Ochoa Gaevska
Scenography: Isa Kasten
Costume design: Mieke Kockelkorn
Art direction & photography: Afagh Morrowatian
Outside eye: Suzy Blok
Production: Stichting Rover 
Coproduction: ICK Dans Amsterdam, Parkstad Limburg Theaters & Nederlandse Dansdagen
Made possible by: Performing Arts Fund NL, Province of Limburg, Fonds 21, Amsterdams Fonds voor de Kunst, NORMA fonds, Gravin van Bylandt Stichting & Van Bijleveltstichting
Special thanks to: Korzo, DOX, Le Gymnase CDCN, Toneelgroep Maastricht, Toneelacademie Maastricht, Abbas Morrowatian & Mahnaz Heygharnejadi