Gesturing Refugees

Created and choreographed by Palestinian dancer and choreographer, Farah Saleh and collaborators, this interactive performance intends to archive hidden stories of refugeehood using the bodies of refugee artists and audience members, while playing with other archive material, testimonies and imagination. 

These archives include present, past and even future stories of refugeehood to try and interrogate collective responsibility and find bridges between the past and present of the West. 

The re-enactment, transformation and deformation of the alternative and personal memories of refugees, performed by refugee artists, will allow the re-appropriation of the narrative of refugeehood and develop a collective gestural identity that might challenge that of passive victimhood to which refugees are often subjected. 

Funded by Creative Scotland and Cultural Resource and supported by Dance Base.