Bless the Sound that Saved a Witch like me
In a powerful solo, choreographer Benjamin Kahn, performer Sati Veyrunes, and composer Lucia Ross let us hear – and feel – how a sense of urgency can be expressed. With silence, with pain, with joy – but most of all, with a scream. A raw, vital impulse in a time of crisis, where we risk losing touch with our emotions.
Festival Julidans
Programme section Julidans On Stage
Dutch premiere
Location Frascati
Venue Frascati 2
Run time 40 minutes
Language Language no problem
“Bless the Sound that Saved a Witch Like Me”
“Bless the Sound that Saved a Witch Like Me” sounds like a cry for help, shaking us awake to the many crises of our time: geopolitical, ideological, and ecological. In a physical and sonic journey, Sati Veyrunes takes the audience on a search for beauty, harmony, and urgency. She moves effortlessly between different emotional states and blurs the lines between genders, transforming into a mother, a youth, or a creature – figures that are as powerful as they are vulnerable.
In this solo, choreographer Benjamin Kahn places the scream at the center. Not as a mere expression of emotion, but as a powerful tool to reclaim a vital impulse: raw, honest, and full of meaning. The scream is an intimate, instinctive act that evokes immediate empathy, whether it arises from anger, joy, pain, or silence. And yet we often shy away from it: too loud, too intense, too inappropriate. This performance invites us not only to hear that unfiltered sound, but to understand and embrace it.
-|-
“Bless the Sound that Saved a Witch Like Me” is the final part of a series of dance portraits in which Kahn collaborates with various performers to make their stories, bodies, and voices visible. After Sorry, But I Feel Slightly Disidentified... (with Cherish Menzo) and The Blue Hour (with Théo Aucremanne), he now works with performer Sati Veyrunes and composer Lucia Ross. Over time, the series has come to be increasingly carried by women who position themselves with power and autonomy – a strength that deeply inspires Kahn.
Benjamin Kahn has previously worked with, among others, Nicole Beutler, Frédéric Flamand, Maud Le Pladec, Philippe Saire, and Alessandro Sciarroni. His work is intense, sensory, and socially engaged.
About Benjamin Kahn
Benjamin Kahn is a choreographer with a background in dramaturgy, theatre and circus (ESAC). He has worked with artists like Nicole Beutler, Alessandro Sciarroni and Cherish Menzo, and teaches at institutions such as CNAC and ESAC. Viewing choreography as a political tool, his work explores how we perceive bodies—individually and collectively. Between 2019 and 2023, he created a solo trilogy on identity, gaze and embodiment: Sorry, But I Feel Slightly Disidentified..., Bless the Sound that Saved a Witch like me, and The Blue Hour.
Credits
concept, choreography Benjamin Kahn
performance Sati Veyrunes
musical creation Lucia Ross
lighting design and stage management Neills Doucet
sound director Sammy Bichon
lighting design Neills Doucet or Edouard Bonnet
dramaturgy assistant Théo Aucremanne
outside view Cherish Menzo
costume designer Carolin Herzbergt
texts Benjamin Kahn inspired directly by Pier Paolo Pasolini, Death Grips, Darek Jerman, MAVI
thanks to Halles de Schaerbeek, Léonard Degoulet, Louis Daurat and Thi Mai Nguyen
executive production Actoral Marseille
touring, development Sandrine Barrasso
coproduction Klap Maison pour la danse, Charleroi Danse, Les Halles de Schaerbeek
-|-
home in residence Festival de Marseille, Centre National de la danse Pantin, Klap Maison pour la danse, Kaiitheater , BUDA Kunstencentrum, Theater Rotterdam
“Bless the sound that saved a Witch like me” is selected as part of the Aerowaves Twenty24 platform with the support of the European Union.
