Benjamin Kahn (Belgium, France) – BLESS THE SOUND THAT SAVED A WITCH LIKE ME

Duration: 40 min.

The cry became the starting point of the mono-performance. The cry, which is often perceived as a means of expressing anger or hysteria, is seen in this work as the most immediate and audible means of immediate personal expression in the political and public sphere. At the same time, it is a dramaturgical and choreographic device that helps different realities and their crisis states to coexist and mingle.

Through a powerful physical and sonic journey, it is a question of allowing the public to encounter beauty, harmony and symmetry, making this vital impulse accessible again.

Bless the Sound that Saves a Witch will be a performance like a cry of alarm this time in the context of the geopolitical, ideological and ecological crisis we are going through... It is a mirror of what we want to see or show. Sati Veyrunes slides from one state to another, blurring and dispelling the boundaries between genders, sometimes mother, young boy, woman or creature…

“Choreography is considered a powerful political tool that allows me to question the intimate and the collective. Whether filled with rage, pleasure, pain or silence, the cry is a powerful and deeply intimate act. It provokes an instant empathy that also summons what we have in common and instinctive“ – Benjamin Kahn.

Benjamin Kahn (choreographer) is a dancer and choreographer. He studied dramaturgy and theatre at the University of Aix en Provence and the Conservatoire de Rennes and graduated from ESAC (École Supérieure des Arts du Cirque) in Belgium. After his studies, he collaborated with choreographers such as Philippe Saire, Benjamin Vandewalles, Nicole Beutler, Ben Riepe, Frédéric Flamand, Maud Le Pladec, Egle Budvytyte and Alessandro Sciaronni.

He considers dance and choreography as powerful political tools and is particularly interested in the construction and deconstruction of how we view individual and collective bodies.

Sati Veyrunes (performer) Born in 1995 in Grenoble, she graduated from SEAD (Salzburg Experimental Academy of Dance) and currently lives in Marseille. She works with Oona Doherty, who gave her solo "Hope Hunt and the Ascension into Lazarus". Sati works internationally since 2021. Sati and Oona continue to collaborate on other film and choreographic projects, including "Hunter Filmed" (2021) and "Navy Blue" (2022). From 2023, Sati performs "Bless the Sound that Saved a Witch Like  Me", a solo written for her by Benjamin Kahn and selected at Aerowaves 2024.

Sati Veyrunes is a laureate of the New Grand Tour 2023, a program designed by the French Institute in Italy (IFI) / French Embassy in Italy to begin her own research around the notion of embodiment.

Concept, choreography: Benjamin Kahn

Performance: Sati Veyrunes

Music Design: Lucia Ross

Light Design et Stage Management: Neills Doucet

Dramaturgy Assistant: Théo Aucremanne

Outside Eye: Cherish Menzo

Costume Eye: Carolin Herzberg

Sound Engineer: Louis Daurat

Texts: Benjamin Kahn directly inspired from Pier Paolo Pasolini, Death Grips, Darek

Jerman, MAVI.

Executive Production: Les Halles de Schaerbeek, Actoral Marseile

Administration, production: Léonard Degoulet

Touring, development: Sandrine Barrasso

Coproduction: Klap Maison pour la danse, Charleroi Danse, Les Halles de Schaerbeek

Accueil en résidence: Festival de Marseille, Centre National de la danse Pantin, Klap Maison pour la danse, Kaiitheater , BUDA Kunstencentrum, Theater Rotterdam

The solo for Sati Veyrunes “Bless the sound that saves a Witch like me” is the second part of a trilogy that will also be presented in its entirety with the pieces “Sorry, But I Feel Slightly Dissidentified…” solo for Cherish Menzo, and The Blue Hour solo for Theo Acremanne. The trilogy is a winner of the TRIO(S) programme supported by SACD and ONDA in 2023.

“Bless the sound that saved a Witch like me” is selected in the frame of Aerowaves Twenty24 with the support of the European Union.

Premiere: March 20th, 2023 at KLAP Maison pour la danse Marseille in the frame of + de Genres Festival

Photos: Bas Czerwinski, Sandy Korzekwa

ATTENTION. Strobe light effects are used during the performance. Also, the performance features high volume sound.