War leaves a deep scar onto a country, whichever country it may be. Sudden or dormant, its impact echoes, affecting trajectories, identities, integration and belonging. Why me? Why us? Why mankind?
To live “within” this flow of unanswered questions rather than “after” it, is what the Nafass collective aimed to express in its first creation entitled “Et si demain…” (What if tomorrow…). Flashbacks, denial, pain, grief, emotions: the five senses do not fool. One’s body does not lie. It expresses itself, recounts its story and lays its soul bare. The spectator discovers then a frantic race for a past that no longer exists. A beloved but condemned past, portrayed by these four Syrian-Palestinian dancers. Suddenly, the silence… as if to convey the need for intimacy. To discover oneself alone, fragile, drained… Contortions, suspense, escapes testify to the long and brutal process of abandonment and acceptance that these artists face. And what if a revival dawned on the horizon? What if tomorrow…