Performances Main Stage

26.07 & 27.07 | 21.00 | 80'

Kalamata Dance Megaron / Main Stage

OMAR RAJEH & MAQAMAT

Beytna

About the performance

“With good friends… and good food on the board… we may well ask, when shall we live if not now?”

— M. F. K. Fisher, The Art of Eating

Beytna is a unique dance performance centered around the concept of sharing, in which four choreographers and four musicians from Lebanon, Korea, Palestine, Belgium, and Togo come together over a banquet of food. Despite their diverse cultural backgrounds and artistic experiences, they reshape a communal and traditional family reunion into an artistic meeting of dance, music, and cooking.
Witness as they talk, drink, laugh, dance, and eat, transforming this simple gathering into an intricate, captivating performance. Beytna invites you into a world of compassion and friendship. It is a simple invitation into the home of the other — an invitation to the artist’s profession and choreographic statement, as much as it is to the forms and situations of the past.

 

 

With the support of the French Institute of Greece – Service of cooperation and cultural action of the French Embassy in Greece.

  • Concept and Choreography: Omar Rajeh
  • In collaboration with: Koen Augustijnen, Anani Sanouvi & Hiroaki Umeda
  • Performed by: Omar Rajeh, Koen Augustijnen, Anani Sanouvi, Jihun Choi, May Bou Matar, Youssef Hbeisch, Ziad Ahmadie, Afif Abou Merhej, Samir Nasreddine
  • Music Composition: Ziad Ahmadie, Samir Nasreddine, Youssef Hbeisch, Afif Abou Merhej
  • Voice: Nohad Rajeh
  • Set & Costume Design: Mia Habis & Omar Rajeh
  • Sound Engineers: Jean-Christophe Batut & Philippe Balzé
  • Lighting Design: Victor Duran Manzano
  • Technical Director: Christian François
  • Graphic Design & Video Animation: Joe Elias (Nimslabs)
  • Production & Coordination: Amina Onsy
  • Coproduced by: BIPOD-Beirut International Platform of Dance, Tanzquartier Wien, Les Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg, CCN de La Rochelle / Cie Accrorap-Direction Kader Attou, Theater im Pfalzbau-Ludwigshafen, and Fondazione Fabbrica Europa
  • Maqamat is supported by: La Ville de Lyon

 

OMAR RAJEH

Omar Rajeh is a renowned figure in contemporary dance who has made a significant impact on establishing a contemporary dance scene in Lebanon. As the founder of Maqamat Beit El Raqs in Beirut (2002), he later established his company Maqamat in Lyon (2020), earning recognition from the French Ministry of Culture “for his contribution and engagement in the service of Culture” as a Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.

With a BA in Theatre Studies from the Lebanese University and an MA in Dance Studies from the University of Surrey, Rajeh’s more than twenty choreographic works acknowledge dance as a confirmation of presence that transcends everyday life.

Beyond his artistic achievements, Rajeh’s contributions include founding the Beirut International Platform of Dance (BIPOD) in 2004—a pivotal dance festival featuring an international program of performances, workshops, lectures, and meetings. As co-founder of the Masahat Dance Network, spanning Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, and Jordan, his commitment to regional connectivity culminated in the Moultaqa Leymoun platform, which fosters opportunities for both emerging and established artists based in Arab countries.