Performing Activism: Re-claim (2023)

Re-claim, Re-shape, Re-make is a collaborative performance project between theatre maker and scholar Naz Yeni and dance scholar and choreographer Eva Aymami Rene.

Exploring embodied forms of protest and resistance, this project proposes a study of movement and the body as agents for social change. By bringing together different material from a wide range of performance-makers, the aim is to offer an interactive space to artists from the community and the creative industries.

Resistance and protest can come in many different shapes and forms. This performance project makes seen what is deemed to be invisible to others by underlining its performativity. This way what can become disposable for others can be brought to attention in order to be shaped in meaningful forms. What is the role of artists and citizens in the post-covid scene? How can our bodies propose ways of social interaction that bring a sense of togetherness?

In the end, what persists for some can be exchanged with others by being shared within the space of the performance. The result is having these reclaimed by society in performing activism through the body.

As part of the project, an event was held on 1 April 2023 for the Cambridge Festival, featuring a dance workshop for performers, a performance created from independent material from professional and community artists, and a movement choir (open to the community).