It begins with a word: Dawri, “turn.” This ancestral Tunisian refrain, whispered by women, becomes the epicenter of a choreographic upheaval anchored in the implacable cycle of existence: to be born, to exult, to resist, to let go, to die.
At the heart of this circularity lies the force of the group – and the absolute embrace of the other. Dawri asks an essential question: How do we inhabit intensity, at the thresholds of life? How do we accompany one another into the unknown? How do we hold a body that fulgurance tears through? How do we catch those who fall?
Forged between Tunis and Montreal, carried by five dancers and a singer, this work of flesh and breath is a raw discharge, a collective act of survival.
An endless movement where bodies lash, gather, rise, and — together — never stop turning.
Two figures stand at the heart of this work: our intrepid grandmothers, one from the shores of Tunisia, the other from Greece. Weathered powerhouses, their imprint acts as a guardian of authenticity and anchors this exploration of edges and thresholds — those points where existence tips and presence becomes absolute.
La Otra Orilla means the other shore. It is born of friction, creating the spark where flamenco meets other bodies, other voices, other worlds. At our heart is an eclectic merging of identities.
Dawri was forged between Tunis and Montréal, nourished by the pull between these two worlds. This field of forces, mapped by six performers, is more than a study of circularity; it is a collective act of survival, an endless movement to gather, to rise, and together, to never stop turning.
Artistic directors Myriam Allard, Hedi Graja
Choreography Myriam Allard
Direction and scenography Hedi Graja
Rehearsal directors and outside eye Annie Gagnon, Lucie Vigneault
Sound design Miguel Medina
Lighting design Leticia Hamaoui
Costume design Maragrita Brodie
Quai 5160 (Montreal, Canada)
Al Badil (Tunis, Tunisia)
Théâtre El Hamra (Tunis, Tunisia)
Carrefour culturel de Notre-Dame-des-Prairies (Town of Notre-Dame-des-Prairies)
Pôle Territoire Danse
Espace le vrai monde (Montreal, Canada)
Rodrigo Alvarenga
Nindy Banks
Wejdane Ben Chaabane
Nour Ben Soltane
Ameni Chatti
Inès Chiha
Deborah Dawson
Anne-Flore de Rochambeau
Ahmed Dorbez
Ja James Britton Johnson
Marahem Khadhra
Marien Luévano
Mohammed Mejri
Mathilde Mercier-Beloin
Hdaya Rima
Geneviève Robitaille
Elie-Anne Ross
Anna Sanchez
Jules Talavera
Aymen Trabelsi
