Dance performance by Modjgan Hashemian
Tehran in the early 1980s: this should have been the liberation of the Persian people, the downfall of the authoritarian Shah regime. Instead, partying and loud music are now taboo, dancing is forbidden, people wear dark veils. They withdraw into their houses and try to find freedom inside their own four walls.
While women are becoming more and more sealed off from the world outside, seven-year-old Modjgan discovers a whole new world. She begins to dance the patterns in the carpets at her grandparent´s house.
This dance piece tries to find an approach to the Islamic Republic and at the same time searches for a childhood country ‒ the carpet becomes a means of transport between space and time. The patterns are limits, limitations, but also a magic shield against fear.
In a well-balanced mixture of mimic and movement the dancers prove their individuality over and over again as the audience experience the dancers´ limitations and futile attempts to break free from the system. The shocking accusation inherent in this choreography conjures up a moment of electrifying silence. (tanzpresse, 2.7.09)
