I’m not interested in how they move as in what moves them.
Pina Bausch
Performer, dancer, sound artist, and technologist interested in the intersection of human consciousness and the arts, the way by which arts can shape and elevate the human understanding of Self and Reality. My work is informed by my background in Sufi mysticism, shamanic trance practices, and contemporary movement modalities such as Release Technique, Forsythe Improvisation Technologies, Gaga, Contact Improvisation, and 5Rhythms.
Researching the ineffable, non-discursive reality through the mediums of bodies and sounds. Finding the unmediated experience that is not bound to the linguistic sphere and is experienced by the performer during the act of performing. Placing the subjective experience of a performer in the center while varying the degrees of improvised and choreographed (self-created and otherwise) movements. Attempting to understand the degree by which our primary socialization and linguistic repository of day-to-day knowledge color the experience of the performance and to what degree one can create a new space for unknown/unexpected experiences.
As a nonbinary, queer artist, what matters to me is unveiling the decolonized, undifferentiated human body, untainted by the race and gender politics of capitalist machinery, through moving and experiencing. Stepping away from popular/known movement forms and soundscapes, my practice creates a fertile ground for discovering new harmonies and movement possibilities.
Current
Project
Reimagination of the Persian Sufi movement and dance within the present-day movement lexicon. Through the centuries of Islamicization, although traditional Persian music survived and flourished, the Iranian relationship to their bodies and dance shifted dramatically. Gender norms, combined with Islamicized ideas of modesty and piety imposed by the ruling class, have brought about an internalized sense of shame and unworthiness with movement and dance. Today, in most Persian traditional music performances that incorporate dance, the movement is either borrowed from the Turkish Mevlevi Sema ritual (commonly known as the whirling dervishes) or is done in the form of storytelling via acting or puppetry. By researching what has survived, combined with explorative work within the traditional music soundscape, this project is focused on creating a new movement modality rather than reviving what may have already been lost.
