Choreography by Rayanne Fawaz & Chanel Sheiban

BUZUR (بذور, “seeds”) is a multidisciplinary research-creation project around Dabke, its origins, transmissions and contemporary transformations. Through choreography, documentary film, interviews, sound, objects and archival material, the project questions what it actually means to preserve a tradition that is still alive.The project is led by Rayanne Fawaz (Beirut) and Chanel Cheiban (Montreal) , two Lebanese artists, whose very different relationships to Lebanon became one of the starting points of the research.

On one side, Dabke was encountered through the nationalistic preservation of “cultural heritage”: something to protect, represent and perform as Lebanese. On the other, it was something to hold onto from afar, tied to memories and imaginaries of a land that was no longer part of everyday life. Neither relationship quite aligned with how we experienced our own culture: urban, queer, and constantly being reshaped.
This contradiction became central to Buzur.

In the space, this research takes the form of a living exhibition. Six dancers and one musician bring choreography, documentary film, testimonies, sound, objects, and archives into dialogue. Heritage is not simply displayed: it is manipulated, transmitted, and transformed by the bodies present.
Ultimately, Buzur asks what becomes possible when a dance is allowed to continue evolving, changing, and remembering on its own terms.

Supported by:
Mawred-Culture Resource
Cam + Mai Alliance
Hammana Artist House
Reyhan