Shaymaa Shoukry
Womb

(Le Caire/Égypte)

In the middle of the night, a dancer challenges darkness. With only two lamps in her hands to light up the stage, she tears her flesh away from the shadows, choosing what she reveals and what she leaves to the obscurity. In this constant movement of light, one area resists. A point of tension burdened with taboos and projections, source of life and prison of ancestral norms — her womb. In WOMB, Shaymaa Shoukry embarks on a visceral expedition haunted by the memory of women who have been constrained, controlled, and mutilated. Between oriental dance, ancient rituals, and organic pulsations, every move revives what patriarchy has attempted to suppress: the power of women’s bodies. Carried by Ahmed Saleh’s live music, immersed in incense smoke and sensory rituals, this visceral trance restores the female body to its (true) place: not object, but sovereign.

To resist. To hold on. To wear a gesture down to the breaking point. From Cairo, Shaymaa Shoukry stages bodies that persist. Dancer, choreographer, and director of Dayer Productions, she works through repetition and exhaustion of movement within a political and social context collapsing from every sides. Sounds, images, movements, her creations unfold as hybrid forms navigating norms and violence, as close to reality as possible. And then start over, once again.

Concept, danse et chorégraphie : Shaymaa Shoukry.
Collaboration artistique, musique live et composition : Ahmed Saleh. 
Voix : Anastasia Katsinavaki. Violoncelle et texte : Shaymaa Shoukry. 
Coach en mouvements de danse orientale : Sherin Hegazy.

Production : Ahmed El Attar, Dayer for Artistic Productions.
Avec le soutien de : Orient Productions. Soutiens : Le Fonds de soutien aux arts arabes (FSAA), Arab Arts Focus Association Paris (AAF). Résidence de recherche : Between the Seas-Art Space 1927.
Womb est réalisé avec le soutien du programme de subventions pour la pratique artistique de Mophradat. Womb est développé dans le cadre du programme de résidence Pro Helvetia Le Caire, accueilli par le Dansomètre à Vevey, en Suisse.