Rooftop Rituals
Cairo, 2025 (work in progress)
Form: site specific interactive duet with live music
Presented at (work in progress): C-DAF Cairo
Duration: 45 min
Direction and concept: Ilja Geelen in collaboration with performers
Performance: Nada Elissa, Ilja Geelen
Music (live) & sound design: Mark Labib
Text: Ilja Geelen & Nada Elissa
Translation (Arabic version): Mirna Ali & Nada Elissa
Decor elements (kites): Mina Elya
Production: Sudoku for Arts | Support: Anna Lindh Foundation
RE:Set
Form: solo played in a circular audience setting, designed for intimate spaces
Theme: identity, migration, cultural adaptation
Presented (at various stages of development) at: Stukafest, Delft Fringe Festival, Goethe Institute Cairo, Les Étoiles du Détroit (Tanger, Morocco), Vluchtelingenwerk Nederland, Makan Cairo, PAS Festival Maastricht
Duration: 30 min
Choreography and performance: Ilja Geelen
Music: Nabil Dourgal, Xavier Geerman, Minka Geelen
(based on sound research by Ilja Geelen)
Supported by DansBrabant, Makershuis Tilburg, EUNIC Egypt
Rooftop Rituals
Rooftop Rituals is a multidisciplinary dwelling on a classic downtown rooftop. Two physical performers and a musician invite you to become part of their playful explorations of this in-between space. Linger with them between city and sky, between private and public, chaos and overview. In movements, sounds, texts and gentle invitations towards audience interaction, the rooftop becomes a space of wonder, wander, creativity and connection.
Rooftop Rituals is a brand new site-specific work-in-progress that was created in the two months running up to DCAF. It flows out from Ilja Geelen’s earlier work on rooftops in Morocco.
Geleen re-explores the domain of rooftops in the vibrant context of downtown Cairo, together with Nada Elissa and Mark Labib. Themes revolve around seeing/being seen, nostalgia and freedom, and lighthearted playfulness in the midst of an overcrowded metropole.