Ihsane is the new creation by world-renowned choreographer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, coming to the Athens Concert Hall in a striking, artistically daring production, a tribute to his Moroccan roots, and at the same time a deeply personal exploration of identity, memory and reconciliation, celebrating what unites us beyond borders and conflicts.

A high-calibre artistic collaboration

Two major dance companies join forces on stage: the historic Ballet du Grand Théâtre de Genève, with decades of distinguished presence, and the younger, multifaceted Eastman company. Under the artistic direction of Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, they form a powerful ensemble rich in aesthetic and cultural references, highlighting the artistic vitality of the Arab world.

As always, Cherkaoui brings together a remarkable creative team that reflects the region’s energy and artistic intensity, an area to which the choreographer is connected through his ancestry. The music was composed especially for the production by Tunisian viola d’amore virtuoso Jasser Haj Youssef, who performs live on stage alongside singers Fadia Tomb El-Hage (Lebanon) and Mohammed El Arabi Serghini (Morocco), and musicians Gaël Cadoux (Rhodes piano), Yasamin Shahhosseini (oud) and Gabriele Miracle Bragantini (percussion).

The impressive spectacle created by the 18 dancers on stage is complemented by the work of visual artist Amine Amharech, whose creations establish an almost ritual atmosphere with strong Moroccan references, and by the groundbreaking costumes of designer Amine Bendriouich, inspired by Berber dress traditions while freeing them from conventions of gender and form. Lighting design is by Fabiana Piccioli, and video is curated by Maxime Guislain.

The creator: Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui

Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui is one of the most influential figures in contemporary dance. A multifaceted artist, choreographer, opera director, dancer, composer, pianist, and visual artist, he works across multiple fields and platforms, from cinema and Broadway to music videos, opera, museums and community art. As Artistic Director of the Ballet du Grand Théâtre de Genève, he possesses a rare ability to create entire worlds where movement, music and architecture intertwine seamlessly.

A leading figure in Belgium’s contemporary arts scene and founder of the dance company Eastman, he has created more than 50 choreographies.

Well known to audiences in Geneva, he presented Loin at the GTG in 2005 and 2008, and Fall in October 2019 as part of the evening Minimal Maximal. In July 2022 he left Ballet Vlaanderen, for which he created Fall (2015), Exhibition (2016) and Requiem (2017), in order to assume direction of the Ballet of the Grand Théâtre. In 2013 he collaborated with Damien Jalet and Marina Abramović on Boléro at the Paris Opera, and again with the same duo on Pelléas et Mélisande in Antwerp in 2018. His opera directing credits also include Rameau’s Les Indes galantes, Gluck’s Alceste at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, as well as Philip Glass’s Satyagraha for the Theatre of Basel. In 2023 he directed Mozart’s Idomeneo at the GTG, with sets by Chiharu Shiota.

IHSANE

The concept and references of the work

This new work, first presented in Geneva in November 2024, is the second part of a diptych that began with Vlaemsch (chez moi) in 2022, where Cherkaoui explored his relationship with his mother and his Flemish roots. In Ihsane, a word that in Arabic expresses an ideal of goodness, benevolence, inner unity and communication with the universe, he turns his gaze toward his father: a Moroccan immigrant in Flanders whom he lost at a young age. The search becomes even more charged by the fact that, thirty years after his father’s death, Cherkaoui has been unable to locate his grave in Tangier. The work functions as a “choreographed funeral that never happened”, confronting loss, memory and the need to transcend the boundaries imposed by identities and places.

But Ihsane does not mean only that. In Belgium, it is also linked to a racist and homophobic crime committed in Liège in 2012: a young gay man of Moroccan origin, Ihsane Jarfi, aged 32, was beaten to death outside a nightclub. The acclaimed choreographer, sharing the victim’s national background, and himself a queer creator, seeks to identify with Jarfi and honour him through this production, which re-examines his family history while also articulating crucial questions through dance: “What trace do we leave behind? How can more than one identity fit into the same body?”

Through an introspective journey into childhood dreams and memories and a constantly shifting movement landscape, Cherkaoui portrays the world in Ihsane as a field of continuous rebirth and transformation. He attempts an exercise in reconciliation that seeks to transcend personal and geopolitical conflicts, while also playing with the derogatory and stereotypical narratives surrounding the Arab world, narratives that still remain strong in the West today. He observes the world changing in an endless cycle of destruction and renewal, remaining wary of cultures that imprison and divide people.

He prefers a geography that remains in constant formation, landscapes that continuously evolve, and the shared space in which we coexist. Within that space, he reveals the invisible threads that connect us to one another.

Ultimately, Ihsane is a journey toward the search for inner peace and an effort to overcome conflict, abandonment and oblivion.

Choreography: Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui
Set Design: Amine Amharech
Costumes: Amine Bendriouich
Lighting Design: Fabiana Piccioli
Music: Jasser Haj Youssef
Video: Maxime Guislain

Vocals: Fadia Tomb El-Hage – Mohammed El Arabi Serghini

Musicians:
Jasser Haj Youssef – viola d’amore
Gaël Cadoux – Rhodes piano
Yasamin Shahhosseini – oud
Gabriele Miracle Bragantini – percussion

Featuring dancers from:
Ballet du Grand Théâtre de Genève & Eastman

The event supports the work of Lifeline Hellas, which continues to provide state pediatric hospitals in Greece with modern medical equipment.

Co-production: Athens Concert Hall & Lifeline Hellas
In collaboration with: visionary culture & Delta Danse
The performances are held under the auspices of the Embassy of Switzerland in Greece.