Ayur
Modernity was significant in shaping societies and in deciding what is to be defined as knowledge: in this process indigenous and popular knowledge were often consistently destroyed. Yet, these erased narratives still influence the present, towards local and global contexts. Ayur is the second part in a trilogy focusing on the semantics and mythologies of the Imazighen, the indigenous people of North Africa. The whole trilogy centres on female figures, as guardians of the transmission of Amazigh knowledge. In Ayur, Radouan Mriziga honours the idea of transmission by creating a solo for Sondos Belhassen, who has been his dance teacher while he was living in Tunis. A work where the choreography emerges between the rhythm of the body and the one of the text, written with the poet Lilia Ben Romdhane and rapper Mehdi Chammen aka Massi. Ayur is the goddess associated in Punic Carthage with the moon.
(born in 1985) is a choreographer from Marrakech based in Brussels. Fairly quickly, he began to focus on his work as a maker, creating his first solo 55 (2014), followed by 3600 (2016), 7 (2017) and 0 (2019), performances in which he addressed dance through the prism of architecture and that have been touring across the world. Since 2019, Mriziga is developing a new trilogy of works inspired by the culture and history of the Amazigh, the original inhabitants of North Africa. From 2017 until 2021, he is an artist-in-residence at the Kaaitheater in Brussels, and from 2021 until 2025 at deSingel in Antwerp.
is a Tunisian choreographer, dancer and dance teacher. She constructs her work around all kinds of experiences, somewhere between dance and film. She is also a dance teacher, working at El Teatro since 1998, at the national circus school and at the drama school of the National Theatre of Tunisia. She undertakes choreographic research alongside Malek Sebaï and Patricia Triki. The three of them create pieces, installations and performances, two of which were created for the Dream City festival: Manel wu Sawssen in 2007 and La prison des délits de cœur in 2010.
Credits
Concept, choreography Radouan Mriziga By and with Sondos Belhassen Support to the research on Amazigh Hajar Ibnouthen Text Lilia Ben Romdhane, Mehdi Chammem aka Massi Music Mehdi Chammem aka Massi Costume Anissa Aida Space Radouan Mriziga in collaboration with Flayou Architecture Flayou Artistic assistant Maïté Minh Tâm Jeannolin Production Dream City, Tunis In coproduction with L’Art Rue, Tunis, Moussem – Nomadic Arts Centre, Brussels, Festival de Marseille, A7TLA5, Brussels, Tanz im August / HAU – Hebbel am Ufer, Berlin Management, distribution Something Great, Berlin Assistant producer Synda Jebali Translations Marwa Manaï, Lilia Ben Romdhan, Mehdi Chammem Supported by Fondation DOEN, i-Portunus, Mairie de Tunis Technical partner SYBEL Licht & Ton Acknowledgments DEBO, Cyrine Boujila, Nawal Laroui, Leila Sebai, Manel Mahdouani, Mohamed Khalfallah, Zoubeir Mouhli, Wajdi Borji, Mehdi Ben Temessek, Ghilen Agrebi
In Arabic with German and English translation