Comme vous

June 2022 | Saint Gaudens, France

Artistic Director & Facilitator | Lucille Toth

Performers | Anila Ademi, Fatou Bakayoko, Lumturie Cupi, Elisabeta Dodaj, Bleranda Iseni, Blerina Kushta, Gwendoline Seigneuret, Adine Sula

Video |Holy Fatma

Photos |Sabrina Rezki and Jal

all together now!

June 2021 | Saint Gaudens, France

For All Together Now, we welcomed our first cohort of men. After five months of workshops (first separating gender to allow bodies to explore without social expectations, then mixing groups), we presented a choreography combining movements created by the entire group, based on stories of intense moments our bodies experienced: walking for one year between Afghanistan and France, boxing or running as ways to feel alive even if both can be interpreted as threatening and suspicious by French authorities, wearing a hijab as a mean to protest against anti-Muslim laws, etc.

Artistic Director & Facilitator | Lucille Toth

Performers | Makanifing Camara, Bleranda Iseni, Kreety Luximon, Rahimullah Mamozai, Mostafa Safari, Morteza Safari

Video |Holy Fatma

RITUALS OF BELONGING

November 14th, 2020 | PotsdamBerlin, Germany

In Rituals of Belonging, each dancer recorded personal experiences of being a foreigner in Germany, the challenges of our immigration status and the hopes it also creates. Each of us worked on a solo piece that offered a movement response to the sound of our own voice. In the second half, we performed a synchronous choreography, inspired by the meaning of our names, the memories of our hometown, and the feeling of leaving it. Here, the repetition of our movements built a sense of ritual, allowing us to connect with one another and shape a strong feeling of belonging.

Artistic Director & Facilitator | Flor Turiace

Performers | Yassi Pishvaei, Carla Lonchuk, Martina Luchetti, Barbara Denisienia, Elise Lein, Florencia Turiace

Photos |Joanna Mu and Carla Lonchuk

JOURNEY

January 13th, 2020 | Urban Arts Space, Columbus (OH)

In Journey, we worked with both movement and video. We individually wrote about the first time someone made us feel we were immigrants: degrading comments on our accents, humiliations at school, etc. We videotaped these stories either in our native tongue or in English, and projected them onto the walls surrounding us. We created a choreography that we performed both individually and collectively as a response to the shared stories.

Artistic Director & Facilitator | Lucille Toth

Associate Artistic Director | Yildiz Guventurk

Performers | Natasha Afanasyeva, Epp Annus, Maud Bahoua, Maimouna Dieng, Yildiz Guventurk, Youji Han, Hawa Keira, Mona Oman, Haryjot Singh, Aleksandra Suslina, Lucille Toth, Merijntje Vanderheijden.

Photos | Heather Taylor and Danielle Schoon

Video | Bryan Ortiz

DANCING WALLS

March 28th, 2019 | Beeler Gallery, Columbus (OH)

In Dancing Walls, we wanted to challenge the very idea of a border and play with the physicality and plasticity of two large walls. By challenging the performers’ and audience’s physical and emotional relationship, we also challenged the idea of privilege: who owns the right to cross or not cross a border? We created different iterations of these movable walls: we wrote on them, destroyed them, used them as a shelter, separated audience and performers, isolated the crowd, etc.

Artistic Director & Facilitator | Lucille Toth

Associate Artistic Director | Mathilde Gilhet

Creative Assistant | Bita Bell

Performers | Amrita Dhar, Bita Bell, Harjyot Singh, Judy Abdulhafiz, Johanna Sellman, Lucille Toth, Mathilde Gilhet, Merijntje Van Der Heijden, Michal Raizen, Pearl Kissi, Sahar Fadaian and Yildiz Guventurk.

Photos | Ty Wright, Gabe Rosenberg and Zane Miller.

Images | Heather Taylor

TEDx TALKS | Yes, she has an accent, why don’t you ?

by Lucille Toth

February 23th, 2019 | Columbus (OH)

Lucille Toth does a combined dance performance and talk to demonstrate the emotions, struggles and reality a female immigrant faces when crossing the border. A group of female immigrants joins her on stage to perform a portion of her dance piece On Board(hers).

Performers | Amrita Dhar, Harjyot Singh, Judy Abdulhafiz, Johanna Sellman, Lucille Toth, Mathilde Gilhet, Merijntje Van Der Heijden, Michal Raizen, Pearl Kissi and Sahar Fadaian.

Creative Assistant | Bita Bell

Open Rehearsal #1

December 11th, 2018 | Beeler Gallery, Columbus (OH)

Hosted by the Beeler Gallery at CCAD (Ohio, USA), our very first performance offered a collective dance based on the recording of our voices. This 20-minute long choreography explored border dynamics by including movements created by the participants themselves during different workshops. These movements were inspired by stories we shared on border-crossing memories.

Audio recording:

Artistic Director & Facilitator | Lucille Toth

Associate Artistic Director | Mathilde Gilhet

Creative Assistant | Bita Bell

Performers | Amrita Dhar, Bita Bell, Epp Annus, Johanna Sellman, Judy Abdulhafiz, Lucille Toth, Mathilde Gilhet, Michal Raizen, Pearl Kissi, Yildiz Guventurk, Yolanda Osterloh and Zahara Ziada.

Photos | Heather Taylor