Dani Abulhawa
Concord
jump → access · about · artist · credits · websites · Updated 17 Jan 2022
Presented by Word of Warning + the Holden Gallery as part of Interruptions
How are walls felt through bodies and generations? How might political walls be brought down? A performance exploring the experience of restricted movement across borders — real and imaginary, current and historical.
Developed from interviews and research about the ways that people find to circumvent or overcome restrictions, Concord invites you to consider how walls are made, how they’re embodied, and how they might be dismantled.
Access
Time: Friday 22 October 2021, 7pm to latest 8pm.
Location: Holden Gallery, MMU, Grosvenor Building, Cavendish St, M15 6BR
We kindly ask audience members to take a lateral flow test before travelling and only attend if you test negative. We also strongly recommend wearing a face covering and socially distancing where possible.
Free Entry: no booking required, entry is on a first-come, first-served basis due to limited capacity. We encourage you to ‘check in’ on arrival by either scanning an NHS QR code or providing contact details — thanks in advance.
Age Advisory: parental/guardian discretion.
Content Warnings: may cause upset, for specific warnings please click here.
Features: live + recorded spoken word, and choreographed movement.
Please note: Concord is a performance lasting approximately 45-60 minutes in a gallery setting — we advise you to watch from start to finish. Some chairs will be available, alongside room to stand or sit on the floor.
For specific access queries please get in touch by emailing info@habmcr.org
About
Concord developed from Dani’s research into political walls and borders, and from her own and her family’s lived experience of the separation wall in Israel/Palestine. She conducted research and interviews with a range of people who have experience of political separation from different contexts across the world — including the Berlin Wall, Korea, Cyprus, China, the US, and others.
Exploring their audio testimonies through movement, Dani developed a series of short choreographies that she performs alongside her father — born in Occupied Palestine in 1955, Jamal is an untrained performer.
With audio material presented alongside movement, Concord is shown within a structure designed to look, feel, and behave as complex and cumbersome as the politics that underpin it.
Artist
A British-Palestinian interdisciplinary artist based in Manchester, Dani Abulhawa has been making work since 2005. Her background and training are in performance, movement, and skateboarding; her work often explores the lived experience and politics of specific spaces and places.
A Lecturer in Contemporary Applied Performance at the University of Leeds, she’s also co-founder of Accumulations — a Manchester-based collective and supportive network for the development of experimental movement, dance, and performance.
Dani’s recent work includes:
Bring Yourself to the Table (2020) — a durational movement score created and performed with artists Sara Spies + Christian Berger; a meditation on who has the ability to participate in diplomatic solutions to conflict, presented as part of the 2020 Festival of Belonging, Manchester Central Library.
The Slide (2018) — a short performance for camera about the politics of water in the West Bank; commissioned as part of an event celebrating the 70th Anniversary of the Declaration of Human Rights by the Helena Kennedy Centre for International Justice.
Feint Lines (2018) — a skateboard choreography made in a car park; commissioned for the Not Quite Light Festival in Salford as part of a strand of work examining women’s experiences of being alone in public spaces at night.
Credits
Creator, Performer: Dani Abulhawa
Performer: Jamal Abulhawa
Image by Christian Berger + Dani Abulhawa.
With thanks to:
Bob Whalley — dramaturg
Amy Voris + Sara Spies — choreographic development
Tamsin Drury + John Franklin — production & creative development, promotion, project management
Christian Berger — set & production development, sound technician
Veronika Abulhawa — vocal performer, costume & props
Guillaume Dujat — audio mastering
Lee Miller, Shelley Owen + Josh Slater, Latitude participants — early-stage creative development feedback
Jodie Ratcliffe — promotion
Zoe Watson + team — Holden Gallery space & technical support
Commissioned by Manchester Independents + hÅb.
Websites
daniabulhawa.com · @skeeterdani
holdengallery.mmu.ac.uk/interruptions · @HoldenGallery
#ManchesterIndependents