Watching you,
from thorax to throat,
the wave of your eyes in the sea-blood.
Sky dreams,
sulfate blue,
because it’s not true:
a real goddess has no blood.
Like a witch,
the ocean knows,
how deep it goes.
Fake goddess for the fake world,
nowhere witch land,
sulfate blue ground,
the fluid extension,
of your toxic body in the toxic land,
fake goddess for the fake world.
Witches are from a stolen land.
Poison troubles your gaze,
black is the color of this haze.
Ocean knows,
how deep it goes,
Night.
Sorour Darabi’s “FROM THE THROAT TO THE DAWN” performance is the latest iteration of the “Mille et Une Nuits” trilogy, exploring the notion of “night” from the perspective of Scheherazade—the central character of the Middle Eastern folktale collection, One Thousand and One Nights. Created in collaboration with Pablo Altar and Ange Halliwell during his 2022 residency at Palais de Tokyo, the Shiraz-born, Paris-based choreographer’s work delves into a space suspended between darkness and daybreak.
Inviting its audience into an evening experience of constant metamorphosis, “FROM THE THROAT TO THE DAWN” presents an emotional landscape that is both intimate and political, where the body becomes a site of transformation and resistance. The work reflects on how night can be both a refuge and a battleground for storytelling and survival, just as Scheherazade delays her own execution through her captivating tales within a tale. Darabi, embodying the fated bride of King Shahryar and agent of change, navigates this unseen realm, revealing a hidden landscape that emerges only in the shadows.
When the eyes get used to the darkness, they manage to see a landscape that is not visible in the light, like a third territory, or a third reading of history. Somewhere between night and dawn.
Credits
Choreography, concept, texts and performance
Sorour Darabi
Live music performance
Pablo Altar & Ange Halliwell
Music composition
Pablo Altar
Light designer
Shaly López
Production/tour Manager
Jenny Suarez
Administration/production Manager
Martin Buisson
Exclusive Production DEEPDAWN-Sorour Darabi
Performance co-produced & premiered at Palais de Tokyo Paris as a part of La Manutention residency
Image by Clara Schleiffer @BONE Festival
