During a press conference held this morning at Sursock Museum, Maqamat announced the program of the 13th edition of BIPOD (Beirut International Platform of Dance) in the presence of the organizers Mr. Omar Rajeh and Mrs. Mia Habis and also in the presence of H.E. François Barras, Ambassador of Switzerland, Ricardo Santos, Deputy Head of Mission at the Spanish Embassy, Mani Pournaghi, director of Goethe Institute, Elma Meijboom, Responsible of Humanitarian Affairs and Public Diplomacy at the Embassy of the Netherlands, Eva Maria-Ghannam representing the director the British Council Donna McGowen, and representatives from partner institutions, sponsors, and the media.
The 13th edition of BIPOD will be launched on Thursday April 13th from CITERNE BERUT (Armenia Street, Al Nahr, Mar Mikhael), which is a new creative performing art space in Beirut that will present local and international contemporary dance performances, music concerts, theatre productions, and other forms of the arts. It is a mobile steel structure of 1000 sqm and will consist of a stage, a hall for different activities, offices, and artist lounges.
In addition to CITERNE BEIRUT, the festival will be also organized in Sursock Museum and Galerie Tanit until Saturday April 29th.
The first phase of CITERNE BEIRUT’s implementation will be done within BIPOD 2017. The objective is to attract the attention of the local artists and cultural institutions, as well as private and public donors.
Omar Rajeh described “CITERNE BEIRUT” as “a reservoir for our ambitions and imagination, a space for creativity, art and experimentation. A living and breathing space that initiates, creates and changes.”
Mia Habis added “It was with these values that Maqamat was founded, values that have since extended to BIPOD, and now find their anchor in CITERNE BEIRUT. We are heading towards a new adventure, to enrichen our days and incite us towards the unknown, unimagined, intangible. Let it be a window onto the ideas of this city and its people, a place for them to proclaim their dreams and their visions. Let it be a space for research and art, for meetings and creativity, a ‘condition’ to establish a new basis for our life and logic. A thinking that is continuously progressing and strongly rooted, not in fanaticism, nationalism, and hatred, but in openness, ingenuity, and originality.”
BIPOD 2017 Program
For its 13th edition, BIPOD will showcase internationally acclaimed companies from Switzerland, Spain, The Netherlands, UK, Germany, and Sweden. Twenty two dance performances, and more than a hundred artist, approach dream, change, and responsibility with different perspectives.
Sursock Museum, a museum of real historical and contemporary significance, will host BIPOD this year, where talks, meetings and evening performances will be organized.
With the partnership of ‘Relais Culture Europe”, the festival will host ‘MEEM Project”, which is a collaboration project between six dance associations across the Arab World. The “German focus’, in collaboration with the German Foreign Affairs, Goethe Institute, NPN (National Performance Network), and Galerie Tanit, includes prominent names that have made significant contributions to the international dance and theatre scenes such as Pina Bausch, William Forsythe, Matteo Fargion, Helena Waldmann, Jan Martens, Rabih Mroue, in addition to Lutz Forster, formerly Artistic Director of Tanztheater Wuppertal – Pina Bausch.
The festival will also feature an exhibition for Pina Bausch at Galerie Tanit and an exhibition for Gilbert Hage at CITERNE BEIRUT.
The 6th edition of MOULTAQA LEYMOUN, a platform showcasing and promoting contemporary dance in the Arab World organized in parallel with BIPOD 2017, will be held from Friday April 21 till Sunday April 23, and will feature 20 artists from different Arab Countries. More than 40 international festival director and dance programmer will also attend this year’s edition.
Under the Patronage of Prime Minister Saad Hariri, Maqamat will honor Abdel Halim Caracalla for his life achievements during a celebration event that will be held at Sursock Museum.
According to the organizers: “We are indebted to Abdel Halim Caracalla for introducing, spreading, and establishing dance in the Arab World and creating an exceptional artistic movement.”
The full program is available on: www.maqamat.org
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