Welcome to OuDance Festival 10.-14.9.2025!
Valvesali
Wed 10.9. at 19
Audience discussion
”Here, I bequeath what doesn’t belong to me.”
With the solo “Ici je lègue ce qui ne m’appartient pas”, Habib Ben Tanfous sets out on the trail of what constitutes him. Even before his birth, Habib, the great-grandson of Habib, inherited the name and its history. What place do these stories take in his life? Where do they fit in? Are they really his?
Drawing on family archives and personal anecdotes, he makes his body the epicentre of an intimate, funny, and sensitive investigation into the ambivalence of inheritance. What to do with what is left to us but does not belong to us? What do we pass on to others? Surrounded by the music and voices that populate his past and present, Habib Ben Tanfous creates a striking solo about the tug-of-war, grief and joys that accompany the development of a life of one’s own.
Concept, choreography, performance: Habib Ben Tanfous | Sound creation and sound engineering: Theo Rota | Costume design: Amandine Laval | Set and lighting design: Aurore Leduc | Artistic collaborator: Elisa Firouzfar | Dramaturgy: Adeline Rosenstein | Dramaturgy collaborators: Arnaud Timmermans, Thomas Schaupp | Choreographic vision: Mercedes Dassy | Lighting control : Aurore Leduc, Inès Isimbi | Production and distribution: AMA – France Morin, Clara Schmitt, Emi Parot, Babacar Ba | A show by compagnie FINEK supported by asbl Ravie | Delegated production: AMA, Atelier 210 | Coproduction: Atelier 210, Charleroi danse, Les SUBS – lieu vivant d’expériences artistiques Lyon, Théâtre Varia, Ravie asbl | Support and residencies: Charleroi danse, Kunstencentrum BUDA, le BAMP, Iles/Artist Project, Les SUBS – lieu vivant d’expériences artistiques Lyon, La Bellone-Maison du Spectacle, CSC Centro per la Scena Contemporanea & Bora Bora as part of Dance & Dramaturgy European Network (D&D EU) | With the support of: Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles – Service général de la Création artistique, taxshelter.be, ING and the Belgian federal government’s tax-shelter, Wallonie-Bruxelles International, Wallonie-Bruxelles Théâtre/Danse | Production of the visit: JoJo – Oulu Dance Centre | Duration: 50 min
“I have often asked myself who I am. Who is this “I” on which so much depends? I have never been able to answer this question. Probably to avoid compartmentalizing a questioning that must remain in perpetual motion. Perhaps the answer to “who am I” can be found in the eyes of those around me. And those around me believe that my “I” comes from elsewhere.
A large part of my family has known two Habib Ben Tanfous. The first was born in Djerba in 1912. The other in a Paris suburb in 1992. The other is me. Almost a century separates me from this great-grandfather whom I never knew, but whose name I bear. I have always felt close to him. When I was small, my grandfather called me Baba. It took me a while to understand the origin of this nickname: in Arabic, Baba is the word children use for father. On his death in 2016, this strange connection came back to me. I thought I was burying my grandfather but in the eyes of my family, I, Baba, was burying my own son…”
How can you remember what you have never experienced? With Ici je lègue ce qui ne m’appartient pas, Habib Ben Tanfous sets out on the trail of his ancestors. He shares with us the reflections and doubts he feels about the complexity of his heritage. He questions our freedom and responsibilities towards what has been handed down to us. By exploring his own roots, he highlights the constant need to re-define who we are. Personal identity versus the imperative to define.
Habib Ben Tanfous is a Belgian-French-Tunisian artist born and based in Brussels, where he started training in hip hop dance at the age of 15. He graduated from the the Royal Conservatory of Brussels in the dramatic interpretation section with great distinction and the Jury Prize in 2018. In 2019, he started his higher certificate in Dance and Choreographic Practices at Charleroi danse in partnership with INSAS and ENSAV La Cambre.
Habib Ben Tanfous regularly collaborates as a dancer-performer, external eye and co-creator and has danced under the direction of Manoël Dupont, Harpo Guit, Hélène Theunissen, Diane Fourdrignier, Adeline Rosenstein, Armel Roussel, Pauline d’Ollone and Olivia Grandville. He is a member of the RAVIE collective, which runs the Théâtre de la Vie in Brussels, and one of the artists of the Tremplin Hip Hop #3.
23 e (regular ticket) / 17 e (pensioners, students etc)
Tickets from Ticket Sales Office in Cultural Centre Valve and Ticketmaster.fi. Shipping and handling costs will be added to tickets purchased from the online store.
Kaikukortti: 6 tickets / performance
Please remember to follow the general safety and hygiene instructions for events:
– Don’t participate if you are infectious or symptomatic
– Take care of hand hygiene; wash your hands or use hand sanitizer
– Cough into a handkerchief or your sleeve
