Marah

Artist-in-residence
Project: Lululeesh (working title)

“For me, re-imagining as resistance means turning the stage into a space of imagination—one that invites us to question ourselves.” 

Marah Haj Hussein is a Palestinian dancer, actress, and maker, currently based in Antwerp. In her work, she explores power structures embedded in language, often merging theater and dance into physical, political, and poetic encounters on stage. During Welcome To Our Guesthouse she collaborates with choreographer Nur Garabli.

In this research, the two artists move through the intimate lineage of grandmother–mother–daughter to reclaim the female body as a site of resilience under occupation. They explore how ancestral knowledge, inherited gestures, and political realities are re-embodied and redefined through their meeting. 

Their starting point is their encounter: a dialogue about the archives inscribed in their bodies—bodies that have absorbed Western—so-called universal—vocabularies while inheriting gestures from silenced histories passed down through generations of women. Can we force the body not to remember? What do we choose to unlearn? 

“Together, we hope a new body language to be born. A language through which our bodies feel connected and empowered.“ 

Concept and performance Marah Haj Hussein & Nur Garabli
Dramaturgy Krystel Khoury
Light design Pol Seif
Music composition Verena Rizzo
Coproduction Monty vzw, Productiehuis Theater Rotterdam