The rupture between the national elites, both modernist and traditionalist, and society, and the lack of interest and contempt shown by these elites for popular knowledge, know-how and artistic expression, are all factors that have contributed to the atomization of our society, confining it to the entrenchments of primitive solidarities (tribalism, communitarianism…). Social atomization will confirm a latent cultural atomization that can no longer be synthesized to form the elements of a homogeneous common identity. From a rejected art form, represented by a population socially excluded and despised by the post-colonial political regime, to a populist political instrumentalization by the next regime, MEZOUED’s journey tells the story of the disintegration of relations between social classes in Tunisia. An expression of mal-vivre and distrust of the dominant culture, it stigmatizes the major social divide that exists between social strata, but above all between cultures considered « noble » and popular cultural practices.

WITH THE COLLABORATION OF
Amira Chebli actress and dancer
Emna Jaziri singer and actress
Farid Ayelem Rahmouni performer and dancer
Hichem Chebli dancer
Marwen Abouda singer
Mohamed Djobbi Circassian
Youssef Chouibi dancer

Design // Afif Riahi
Choreography // Aïcha M’Barek & Hafiz Dahou
Co-direction // Afif Riahi – Frédéric Déslias – Aïcha M’Barek & Hafiz Dahou
Set design // Byram Tunez – Frédéric Déslias – Afif Riahi
Video creation // Olivier Ratsi
Sound design // Skander Besbes
Instrumentalist // Saifeddine Helal
Musical collaboration // Anas Ghraib
Lighting // Sabri Atrous – Rami Gueddich
Costume // Salah Barka
Assistants // Marwa Boubaker – Malek Hedhly – Hichem Ben Khlifa

Documentation // La saga du Mezoued en Tunisie by ALI SAIDANE – Edition Sinbad

Estimated duration // 1H

Production
ECHOS ELECTRIK

With the support of
International Fund for the Promotion of Culture, UNESCO / IFPC – Ministry of Cultural Affairs – Tunisia – AFAC Arab Fund for Art and Culture – Institut Français and City of Paris – British Council.

NOTE D’INTENTION
A dialogue between two spaces that places the body and movement at the center of the dialogue with the objects that occupy them. The dancers seize the opportunities offered by these spaces, constructing, occupying and inventing identities, and investing different states and modes of relationship, between notions of group and individuality. Through this dialogue, the show questions the lines of tension present in our society. Between dance, performance and digital art, the writing unfolds by going back and forth between identified, popular and noble spaces, shaking up the aesthetic and sound codes of Mezoued culture, as if to inscribe this cultural heritage in its time. By immersing ourselves in its history and journey, we question this culture through the prism of the compartmentalization it undergoes, and the relationships it establishes between individuals.