Jogging
Hanane Hajj Ali is one of Libanon’s best known performers and activists. As a now fifty-something year old woman, she exercises daily to avoid osteoporosis, obesity, and depression. In her award-winning play Jogging she take you along through the streets of Beirut as well as her dreams, desires, hopes, and the many roles she plays as a Lebanese woman.
A hilarious and sometimes very dark performance, Jogging follows the stories of four women: Hanane herself, but also Medea, in both an ancient and contemporary versions, either killing her own children or sacrificing them to the altar of the wars that plague the Middle East. It’s just a question of point of view.
Festival Brandhaarden
Run time 90 minutes
Genre Theatre
Language Arabic
Surtitles Dutch and English
Jogging
When the audience enters, Hanane Hajj Ali is already onstage. Dressed all in black, she stretches, warms up, gets her voice ready for a one-woman show… and starts running. A hilarious and sometimes very dark performance, this iconoclast Jogging follows the stories of four women: Hanane herself, but also Medea, in both an ancient and contemporary versions, either killing her own children or sacrificing them to the altar of the wars that plague the Middle East. It’s just a question of point of view.-|-A work inspired by the life of the director herself as “woman, mother, actress, citizen,” as she runs every day through the alleys of Beirut to ward of stress, depression, and osteoporosis. The effects of Hanane’s daily routine are contradictory. As a matter of fact, two hormones are stimulated in her body: dopamine and adrenaline. Two hormones that are alternatively destructive and constructive, amidst the city of Beirut that destroys to build and builds to destroy.
A health exercise she transforms into a dive into the depths of her most intimate dreams and fears. A radical challenge to the stereotypes and prejudices that afflict the women of the Arab world.
Hanane Hajj Ali about Jogging
....nobody “should” see Jogging, but anybody interested in seeing a good piece of art, in critical thinking, and in challenging cliches especially his or her own prejudices, is warmly invited to see the performance.
26 FEB - Artist Talk
A look behind the scenes and conversations with the people behind the scenes make the performance visit even more interesting. That is why ITA Academy organises a series of Artist Talks during Brandhaarden: in-depth discussions with inspiring makers about their work and working methods, motives, sources of inspiration and fascinations. Artist Talks take place after a performance by the relevant maker and offer depth to look at the work in a broader context.
On February 26, moderator Carolien Borgers will engage in a conversation with Hanane Hajj Ali.
Registration is free (and required) via the link below
Credits
with Hanane Hajj Ali
text, conception Hanane Hajj Ali
dramaturgy Abdullah Alkafri
mise en scnène Éric Deniaud
lights Sarmad Louis, Rayyan Nihawi
sound Wael Kodeih
costumes Kalabsha, Louloua Abdel-Baki
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co-production Arab Funds For Arts and Culture
with the support of Heinrich Böll Stiftung – MENA Office (Beyrouth), the French Embassy in Lebanon, the French Institute in Lebanon, The British Council, SHAMS Association, Collectif Kahraba, Al Mawred Athaqafy (Cultural Ressource), Moussem Nomadic Arts Centre (Brussels), Zoukak – Focus Liban 2016, Artas Foundation, Vatech, Khalil Wardé SAL, Orient Productions
Female Voices
Brandhaarden
How does the female voice sound when concentrated in time and place at a festival? During the 11th edition of international theatre festival Brandhaarden, six female directors confront plays and themes from the classical repertoire, in which female characters play leading roles. Brandhaarden: Female Voices takes place from Wednesday 22 February to Saturday 4 March and features performances by Elsa-Sophie Jach, Eline Arbo, Satoko Ichihara, Carme Portaceli, Hanane Hajj Ali and Ewelina Marciniak.
Previous editions have spotlighted directors such as Katie Mitchell, Milo Rau and Rimini Protokoll, writer Édouard Louis, the Southern European region (Portugal, Spain, Italy and Greece) and city theatres such as Münchner Kammerspiele, Volksbühne Berlin and Peter Brooks Théâtre Bouffes du Nord.