Concept and research by Netta Weiser
Composition by Azadeh Nilchiani and Netta Weiser
Dance by Dominique Tegho
Field recordings by Merjn Royards
Sound spatialization in collaboration with Andrei Cucu.
The piece was created with the kind support of the Studio for Electroacoustic Music of the Akademie der Künste and Klangzeitort Institute for New Music Berlin.
The research was funded by Fonds Darstellende Künste and the Tanzrecherche stipendium for international artists of NRW Kultursekretariat.
The Egg Dance in 3D
November 9. 2021, premiered as part of the EM4 concert at Akademie der Künste, Berlin.
The Egg is a derelict oval-shaped building located in downtown Beirut. It was meant to be a movie theater but due to the outbreak of the Lebanese Civil War in 1975 its building was never completed. Since then, it stands abandoned in the urban landscape of Beirut, just south of Martyr Square along what was the front line between the Eastern and Western parts of the city. During the 2019 protests in Lebanon, activists took over the egg. They filled the empty building with gatherings, discussions, parties, and graffities.
At the end of the same year, Berlin-based Lebanese choreographer Dominique Tegho performed a dance action at The Egg, in which she wished “to channel the energies of the revolution through her body, and participate in the protests in her own way”.
The Egg Dance radio-choreography is a radiophonic documentation of Domi’s dance action. It combines field recordings from Beirut, together with sounds of the dance reenactment, including sounds of stamping feet, breaths and chanting of protest slogans in Arabic.
The Egg Dance radio composition was first broadcasted in July 24 2021. For the EM4 concert, the radio composition was transformed into an 8-channel sound piece, which explores the possibilities of generating an audio-spatial experience of the dance as well as the space it took place in. The 8 loudspeakers circle becomes a portal that takes us to Beirut, transformes into an invisible stage and allows us to experience an uncanny proximity to the body of the dancer.
The piece was also part of the Radio-Choreography: Hereafter Multi Channel sound berformance.