Elad Schechter + Rand Ziad Taha & Hala Salem To Premiere PARALLEL

Winner of the silver medal at the Beijing International Ballet and Choreography Competition in 2011, Elad Schechter will present Premiere, a rare collaboration between a Muslim artist and a Jewish choreographer. The work is a sort of protest, a performance originally staged in the Western part of the city where they were both born and raised, Jerusalem.

Elad and performer Rand Ziad Taha seek to reveal various aspects of Arab culture. Rand places a Walkman, Polaroid camera and mobile phone onstage, converses live with her mother, listens to an Algerian love song. She wears a layered costume revealing the colours of the Palestinian flag. Her masbacha (Arabic rosary) inspire movements that push the limits of physicality.

This double bill will also be the occasion to discover Rand as choreographer with Parallel, a piece cocreated with fellow performer Hala Salem. This duet is more than just an artwork. It is about the mental, emotional, and social violence a woman endures throughout her life. Even though they live in different cities, the performers survive under similar circumstances and deal with the same community. In Parallel, traditional music can be heard and one might be inclined to think the women are celebrating a wedding. Most of these songs focus on the preparations that brides go through, on what they should look like, on the way they should act to please their husband. Without denying their beauty, Rand and Hala are striving to understand how people fall in love with these songs as they repeat the lyrics without really listening.

PREMIERE Producer: c.a.t.a.m.o.n Dance Group in Jerusalem / Choreographer: Elad Schechter / Performer: Rand Ziad Taha / Lighting Designers: Daniel Yehuda Spector, Benoit Larivière / Costume Designer: Adi Yair / Music: Yuma / In partnership with the Consulate General of Israel in Montreal / Produced for the From Jaffa to Agripas festival 2018

PARALLEL Choreographers and performers: Rand Ziad Taha and Hala Salem / Lighting Designer: Benoit Larivière

TANGENTE / 1435, RUE DE BLEURY / BOX OFFICE 514 525-1500 / tangentedanse.ca, https://tangentedanse.ca/en/event/schechter/