DEEPDAWN /
SOROUR DARABI

A Thousand and One Nights

ARTIST INITIATIVES

16.10.202419.10.2024

SOLD OUT

Tickets available for purchase on-site before each performance (subject to availability).

Season

24 → 25

Discipline

Dance

Location

Pavillon Villette

Duration

Approximately 2h20

A 2024 Creation

Iranian choreographer Sorour Darabi, a resident of France since 2013, is premiering his first opera, a moving spectacle that highlights voices that ancient myths once shoved aside. A piece created by and for socially committed bodies.

A Thousand and One Nights springs from Sorour Darabi’s observation of the conservative nature of opera, where neither bodies of diversity nor the expression of a nonstandard sexuality exist. It was also clear to him that opera, as a Gesamtkunstwerk, would be the ideal way to extend his work, which encompasses dance, theatre, the visual arts, song, and poetry. This realisation gave birth to a project about the aesthetics of transgender voices. For most trans people, hormonal treatments entail a change in their voice, which affects the generation of sound in their vocal cords. This fragility and emotional texture is expressed in A Thousand and One Nights in contrast to a normative technical perfection. An emancipatory opera for the twenty-first century that voices different aesthetics and thoughts to build a different relationship with the world.

Standing room only

Dates

Wed. 16.10

19h00

Thu. 17.10

19h00

Fri. 18.10

19h00

Sat. 19.10

20h00

Prices

Full price 16€

Subscribers & adherents 10€

Young subscribers 8€

More prices here →

With the Festival d’Automne à Paris and the CND

Teaser Deepdawn / Sorour Darabi

Sorour Darabi’s project explores an aesthetic of the transgender voice, highlighting the fragility and emotion of vocal transitions. With The Thousand and One Nights, he creates a 21st-century opera that is emancipatory and inclusive, inviting us to rethink our relationship with the world.

Casting / Production credits

Chorography, Design, Dramaturgy, Texts, and Artistic Direction Sorour Darabi

Performers, Singers, Actors, and Live Musicians Aimilios Arapoglou, Li-Yun Hu, Lara Chanel, Felipe Faria, Sorour Darabi, Pablo Altar, Florian Le Prisé, and Ange Halliwell Musical Composition Pablo Altar and Florian Le Prisé

Vocal Coach Henry Browne Lighting Design Shaly Lopez Technical Manager Jean-Marc Ségalen Scenography Alicia Zaton (based on an original idea by Sorour Darabi) Ice Sculptures Samuel Girault / Ice et Art Costumes Anousha Mohtashami

Editor and Curator of English-Persian Texts (Poetic Societies, Crafted Counsel Remote Residency Program) Ava Ansari

Exclusive Production Manager and Distribution Jenny Suarez

Administration and Production Manager Martin Buisson

Co-direction La Villette – Paris, Festival d’Automne, le CND centre national de la danse as part of Camping, international platform of workshops from 14 to 25 october 2024.
Initiatives d’Artistes / La Villette – Paris

Exclusive production DEEPDAWN / Sorour Darabi

Co-production Festival Montpellier Danse, CCN – Ballet National de Marseille as part of the studio residency program / Ministry of Culture, Arsenic – Centre d’art scénique contemporain, Festival d’Automne, La Villette – Paris, Centre national de la danse, Tanzquartier Wien, Transfabrik – Fonds franco-allemand pour le spectacle vivant,Charleroi Danse, Theaterformen festival

With the suppport of La Manutention Palais de Tokyo, Centre national de la danse, Trauma Bar Und Kino, Goerhe Institute ; Tanzhaus Zürich, PACT Zollverein (Essen); ) ; KWP Kunstenwerkplaats (Bruxelles) & POETIC SOCIETIES (Detroit) ; The Saison Foundation (Japan) with the support of ADAMI and SPEDIDAM

Acknowledgements to Palmina D’Ascoli, David Lopez, Thomas Gachet