performance

Performances

Passage

‘Passage’ is an on-going project which seeks to explore everyday life through body and movement. The performance applies rhythm as something inseparable from understandings of time, in particular repetition. It examines relations between urban life and rhythms inspired by traditional Persian music and dance.

Taking the concept of rhythm through the gaze of Henri Lefebvre’s ‘Rhythmanalysis’, ‘Passage’ project poses questions about the role space plays in our lives. Rhythmanalysis is applied as a springboard for investigations into how rhythms shape human experience in time and space and pervade everyday life and place.

Spring, Comes and Goes

“Spring comes and goes” is a dance-theater directed by Iranian choreographer Mansoureh Alimadadi. As one of the 21 performers, Oldouz was engaged in some episodes of this performance which was basically about the mythical stories of the seasons and the struggle between the light and darkness.

Spring comes and goes” was performed in June and November 2019 in ‘Vahdat (Rudaki) Hall’, one of the most prestigious music and theater halls in Iran.

Improvisation in Mahoor

The improvisation is an experimental approach towards classic (dastgahi) Iranian music and Iranian dance.

Music piece played by Arsalan Nejadi (Tonbak) and Navid Masjedi (Santur), presents rhythms and melodies which provide the performer (Oldouz) a platform to improvise dance figures and phrases inspired by traditional Iranian dance.

We, Nothing, We, Sight

Based on five plays by Samuel Beckett, “We, Nothing, We, Sight” was a physical theater directed by M. Alimadadi performed in Aftab theater in Tehran at summer 2017.

As an actor, Oldouz performed a role based on body act, both in public space and on stage. The performance got good reviews from critics and artists since it had an innovative approach towards Beckett’s absurd theater by focusing on the role of movement and dance in storytelling.

Yalda, Now

This solo santur improvisation called ‘Yalda’ is inspired by a poem by Iranian famous poet ‘Hafez Shirazi’.

Celebrating Yalda (The longest night of the year) comes with many traditions such as family gatherings, storytelling and reading poems. The poems by ‘Hafez Shirazi’ are mostly known as a kind of fortunetelling. In this piece, Navid is performing his interpretation from the poem, as well as his perspective about Yalda and the concept of struggle between light and darkness

The Gypsy Wind

“Gypsy Wind” is poetry performance directed by M. Alimadadi which was performed in Molavi Theater Hall in February 2015. It is one of the first experiences of Oldouz as a physical theater Actor.

Based on poems by Farshad Fereshte-Hekmat, “Gypsy Wind” was a physical theater about women’s struggles in modern Iranian society. The bride is the symbol of all the hopes and dreams of a woman who fights to live with her pains, troubles, and loneliness.

Santour & Zarb

A duet of Tonbak (also known as Zarb) and Santur in avaz-e Abou’ata.

Iranian Traditional Music, also known as musiqi-e sonnati-e irani is classified into the Dastgah system which is a modal system in seven distinct modes referred to as Dastgah. Each Dastgah is then classified into smaller units, called an avaz. Every avaz consists of short pieces and melodies of music called the gousheh. This piece of avaz-e Abou’ata is in Dastgah-e Shour, which is sometimes considered the mother of all Dastgah of Iranian Traditional Music.