Sharjah Art Foundation has unveiled the full programme for the new edition of Perform Sharjah, a performing arts festival running from October 11 to November 29 across venues in Sharjah. All 16 performances, spanning dance, theatre and live art, will be free to attend.
The festival opens on October 11 with "Every-Body-Knows-What-Tomorrow-Brings" by choreographer Mohamed Toukabri, a hip-hop and contemporary dance piece exploring what today's dancers inherit from earlier generations. On October 18, British playwright Nathan Ellis's interactive work "Work.txt" receives its Gulf premiere, handing control of the stage to the audience itself.
Other highlights include Mallika Taneja's "Do You Know This Song?" on October 25, which reconstructs the story of a half-forgotten singer through music and spoken word, and choreographer Maria Hassabi's "Us" on October 31, performed by five dancers confined to a six-metre bench. In mid-November, German artist Sebastian Mayer brings life-size elephant and giraffe puppets to the streets in the family-friendly "Hannibaby and Zarafa." The festival closes on November 29 with Sofiane Chalal's "XXL," a hip-hop work addressing perceptions of larger bodies on stage.
Several pieces will also be staged at Bait Al Serkal, a heritage house in Sharjah, including a programme of intimate commissioned performances dealing with memory and loss. Organisers say the free-entry model is central to Perform Sharjah's mission of widening access to international contemporary performance for both residents and visitors to the emirate.