Suspended Between the Second and the Third Kiss: A Choreography by Petra Serhal

Suspended Between the Second and the Third Kiss A Choreography by Petra Serhal

Within the framework of an International Co-Production Fund of the Goethe-Institut in the field of theatre and dance, the artist Petra Serhal presented her performance Suspended Between the Second and the Third Kiss after nearly two years of postponement. From 16 to 18 July 2021, the premiere of the performance took place in Bremen at the Schwankhalle, shown as part of the contemporary dance festival Tanz Bremen.

Suspended Between the Second and the Third Kiss is a choreography by Beirut-based artist Petra Serhal dealing with the corporal experience of the individual and the collective in moments that oscillate between intimacy and control. The choreography investigates the relations of power in intimate relationships and dance, and experiments with the limits of the body through movement and sound. This opens for a new spatial, choreographic and sonic experience that interrogates how our bodies perceive, absorb, relate, react, and endure these moments.  
  
Petra Serhal is an artist working in live-art and choreography. Her work draws from her ongoing research on the experiential aspect in performance and the role of the audience in the performative and choreographed experience. Her work often deals with language and sound in relation to movement and space, body as archive, fragmentation, absence, physical violence, and embodiment. Serhal received her M.A. Body in Performance from Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, London (2015). Her recent works include: LIVE/laiv/, Adagio, Toyota89, Overlooking & Panoramic, and No Blood Included. 
  
Co-Producer: Sasha Ussef; Technical Director: Gregor Knüppel; Sound Designer: Fadi Tabbal (Tunefork Studios); Performers: Petra Serhal and Martin Angiuli; Assistant Choreographer: Elisabetta Gareri; Dramaturgy in collaboration with Margrit Sengebusch; Production Coordinator: Malin Bassner; Technical Assistant: Daniel Al Choueiry; Cube Construction: Damj Design (Beirut) and Bras (Bremen); Costume Designer: Bshara Atallah; Visual Design: David Habchy 
   
This project is supported by the International Coproduction Fund of the Goethe-Institut, 
The Arab Fund for Arts and Culture (AFAC) and Fanak Fund. In collaboration with Schwankhalle (Bremen).
 
Partners: Hammana Artist House (Lebanon), Institut Français (Beirut), Amalgam (Beirut).