Siobhan Davies Studios
23 March 2018 – 7.30pm
A new contemporary dance performance by Palestinian UK-based choreographer Farah Saleh, investigating the collective mental health of UK residents after the EU Referendum.
Beginning with Theresa May’s famously repeated phrase, “Brexit means Brexit!”, the performance considers factors that led to the vote, but more importantly the impact of the current political situation: the uncertainty, frustration, and polarization of society.
Developed in collaboration with Victoria Tischler, Professor of Arts and Health, Head of the Dementia Care Centre, University of West London, Brexit means Brexit! explores how the political divide manifests on a physical, emotional and social level. How does Brexit affect the UK’s European residents, for both those who voted to leave and those who voted to remain?
Choreography: Farah Saleh
Research: Farah Saleh and Victoria Tischler
Dancers: Robert Hesp and Tanja Erhart
Costume design: Jill Skulina
Produced by PS/Y, with initial research period supported by Candoco Dance Company
Commissioned by PS/Y for Hysteria
Film by Beth Chalmers
Thanks to Dance Base, Edinburgh
Farah Saleh is a Palestinian dancer and choreographer active in Palestine, Europe and the United States. She has studied linguistic and cultural mediation in Italy and in parallel continued her studies in contemporary dance. Since 2010, she has taken part in local and international projects with Sareyyet Ramallah Dance Company (Palestine), the Royal Flemish Theatre and Les Ballets C de la B (Belgium), Mancopy Dance Company (Denmark/Lebanon), Siljehom/ Christophersen (Norway) and Candoco Dance Company (UK). Also since 2010, Saleh has been teaching dance, coordinating and curating artistic projects with the Palestinian Circus School, Sareyyet Ramallah and the Ramallah Contemporary Dance Festival. In 2016 she co-founded Sareyyet Ramallah Dance Summer School, which runs on a yearly basis. In 2014 she won the third prize of the Young Artist of the Year Award (YAYA) organised by A.M. Qattan Foundation in Palestine for her installation A Fidayee Son in Moscow and in 2016 she won the dance prize of Palest’In and Out Festival in Paris for the duet La Même. She is currently an Associate Artist at Dance Base in Edinburgh, UK.
Image: Farah Saleh, Brexit means Brexit! 2018. Siobhan Davies Studios. Commissioned by PS/Y for Hysteria. Photo by Anne Tetzlaff