Without Damage

Schedule

Tuesday 9 July

21:45 - 22:45: La Planquée

Wednesday 10 July

21:45 - 22:45: La Planquée

Mohamed Fouad (EG)

Performance

The title seems reassuring : you will not be harmed, no damage. Can it be trusted?

Mischief is Mohamed Fouad’s middle name. He starts by a literal “choreographic composition” by drawing a chalk line around his own body, which pretty much sets the tone. You won’t be spared; by the end of it, you’ll figure out how a show is created.

It is a performance twisted around like a Rubik’s cube. "Without Damage" allows the Egyptian choreographer and dancer to experiment with the long list of inventive tools from his discipline, whether it is using the body as a compass, fragmenting space, visuals on the ground or spirals in motion. Mohamed Fouad goes on and on, and at some point he strikes a deal with the spectators. He invites them on stage to expose themselves to the public – thus, to themselves – in exchange for financial contribution.

The performance is a new breed of Three-card Monte. One cannot help but be seduced by Mohamed Fouad’s pompous speech, only to realize afterward what the rhetoric is truly about: a commentary on how brutal the commodification of art can be. The question then arises – what is the future of creation in times of crisis, here and elsewhere?

About Mohamed Fouad

Mohamed Fouad, a performer and choreographer, received a B.A. in Theater Studies from the Faculty of Arts in Alexandria University. He completed the contemporary dance workshop program at Studio Emad Eddin Cairo between 2008 to 2011.

In 2010, he participated in the danceweb program at Impulstanz Festival. Subsequently, he worked as a dancer and performer in several projects that toured and were presented at several international festivals: Dancing on the Edge Festival (2011), Montpellier Danse (2012), and Downtown Contemporary Arts Festival in Cairo (2013).

His latest solo “Without Damage” was presented in the (off) showcase of Festival D’Avignon in 2018. The piece is currently on tour, playing in several venues of other international festivals (Utrecht, Marseille, Cairo, Alexandria). From 2011 to 2017, Mohamed Fouad shared his creative insight in the Alexandria-based Nassim el-Raqs Festival on a yearly basis.

Mohamed Fouad recently founded the Khalf 40 performing arts collective.