Nora Amin liberates the so-called belly dance from the sediments of history: she inverts the voyeuristic and exoticized perspective into a perspective of one's own body and history, allowing the audience a new view. My Dance is an attempt to shift power, a reflection on female sexuality, the erotic self, and patriarchal oppression, as well as the impact of colonialism and racism on belly dance and on the image of women that goes with it. The solo is also a personal testimony of the author, choreographer and director, who traces her own body history between Egypt and Germany. She searches for an artistic language that embodies both trauma and the ecstasy of liberation, and allows for communal dancing as an intimate and decolonial practice beyond the categorizations of white economies.

The performance lasts about 60 minutes. It is in English spoken language. In one moment, soft light is directed towards the audience. In a short section of 5 minutes the audience is asked to stand up and move their arms and hips. There is a mentioning of sexual abuse and racism. The piece is suitable for an audience aged 14 and older. The audience area on the grandstand is seated. There are two wheelchair spaces and one beanbag seat that can be reserved by phone or booked via the online ticket shop or at the box office, if available. If you have any questions or need further information, please contact Gina Jeske at jeske@sophiensaele.com or 030 27 89 00 35.

NORA AMIN is a writer, director, researcher, performer, and choreographer based in Cairo and Berlin. Her work is situated between literature, theater/dance and feminism and is borne by socio-political activism that rebels against traditions of patriarchy, authority, coloniality, sexism and racism. She has written several novels and essays. In 2000 she founded the theater group LaMusica in Cairo and in 2011 the Egyptian Project for a Theater of the Oppressed. Before moving to Berlin in 2015, she directed and produced 40 theater, dance and music productions. She was a fellow at the International Research Center for Interweaving Performance Cultures at FU Berlin, where she also held the S. Fischer Visiting Professorship in Literature (2004/05) and the Valeska Gert Visiting Professorship (2018). In 2018, her essay Weiblichkeit im Aufbruch on the transgressions of female corporeality in public space was published. In 2021, Dance of the Persecuted will be published on the history of Egyptian Baladi dance from a feminist perspective.