Movement Takes Precedence Over Words, the Body Becomes a Tool of Resistance, a Space of Struggle, and a Territory of Freedom
The Press — Presented as part of the official competition of the 26th edition of the Carthage Theater Days at the Quatrième Art hall, the piece "Plume" by the Palestinian company Shaden of contemporary dance offered the Tunisian public a rare scenic experience of intensity. In this show where movement takes precedence over words, the body becomes a tool of resistance, a space of struggle, and a territory of freedom.
From the first minutes, "Plume" imposes a vision: that of a body charged with memories, constraints, and possibilities. The Palestinian body, here, is not only a suffering body; it is a thinking, questioning, and demanding body. The staging by Shaden Abou Al-Assal, also the choreographer of the show, succeeds in transforming the stage into an energetic field where tensions, contradictions, and impulses of freedom unfold.
The piece directly addresses the question of power: how does it shape the individual? How does it infiltrate the psyche, gestures, and dreams? Through a subtle dramaturgy, signed by Hazem Kamaleddine, the performers explore the ambivalent relationship between submission and revolt, belonging and desire for emancipation.
The central character is an authoritative female figure, embodied with remarkable power by Macha Semaan. Dressed in a blue costume, a color omnipresent in the show, she imposes her dominance through her gestures, vocal presence, and movements, almost totalitarian. This blue — a symbol of rigor, but also of masculinity in popular imagination — questions the audience: does this woman not embody, in turn, a form of patriarchal power, replicated and internalized?
Facing her, the three other performers — Haya Khourieh, Anan Abou Jaber, and Ishtar Maallem — oscillate between resistance and capitulation. Their bodies try to escape, struggle, laugh, fall, and dance. Laughter actually occupies a special place in the scenic construction: it emerges as a weapon, as a refusal to be crushed, as a way to sublimate the absurdity of power.
Shaden Abou Al-Assal, through her choreographic vision, explores human dualities: joy and pain, attachment and the need for rupture. Her own presence on stage inscribes this duality in a complex bodily language where each gesture seems to come from an inner struggle.
Dancer Haya Khourieh particularly stands out for her interpretation of a body hindered, desperately seeking freedom through movement. Her performance, expressive and luminous, brings a poignant emotional dimension to the show.
Anan Abou Jaber, with impressive physicality, offers sequences of great intensity, while Ishtar Maallem, a Palestinian artist based in France and trained in circus arts, appears as a black bird, a figure of total freedom. Her airy presence and unique bodily language expand the poetic horizon of the piece.
The set design, conceived by Shaden Abou Al-Assal and Hazem Kamaleddine, relies on two main elements: a minimalist setting and a powerful play of light. The central object — a very high chair evoking the watchtowers of occupation — imposes itself as a symbol of distant but omnipresent power.
The light, mostly blue, reinforces the feeling of control and oppression, while echoing the costume of the authoritative figure. It also reminds us, at times, of virtual space, this "digital sky" where another form of surveillance is exercised.
The music composed by Saïd Mourad, integrated organically into the performers' play, envelops the stage in continuous tension. It guides the listener's attention, accentuates the breaks, and gives the movement additional depth.
With "Plume," the Shaden company offers a visceral show, of great mastery, where the body becomes text, manifesto, and cry. By placing the Palestinian body at the center of the artistic discourse, the piece questions our own relationships with power, freedom, and resistance.
