Citerne Beirut

16/01/2025

COMING SOON on www.citerne.live! 🎥

We are thrilled to present The BIG DANCE LAB, curated by Peggy Olislaegers, live from Tirana, Albania, and streaming exclusively on Citerne.live on the 18th of January. As part of this exciting event, we’ve selected two of the main topics to be streamed, ensuring broader participation and engagement while reimagining the boundaries of dance and performance in unconventional spaces! 📡

* Can we get rid of the word 'quality'? @ 11:30 -CET
* Give me some space! @ 15:30 -CET

Join us in:
✨ Exchanging ideas and insights on new performance formats.
✨ Exploring the potential of non-traditional spaces for artistic creation.
✨ Connecting and networking with inspiring professionals in the field.

The BIG DANC ELAB is part of SHIFT (Shaping Harmony, Innovating Forms & Thought), a Creative Europe project led by Cie Omar Rajeh & Maqamat, Fondazione Fabbrica Europa per le arti contemporanee, and Albania Dance Meeting. SHIFT brings together artists, experts, and citizens from multiple EU and Mediterranean countries to explore new formats of artistic expression, community engagement, and audience interaction.

SHIFT is supported by the European Commission.

Let’s reimagine the future of dance together! Stay tuned for updates and don’t miss it!

19/11/2020

Bipod | Beirut international Platform of Dance | 16th Edition | live in real time on www.citerne.live

BIPOD will be live streamed in real time from six different cities and will propose, in addition to the live performances, a program of videos, conversations and talks.

Mia Habis & Omar Rajeh, directors of BIPOD, will open this year’s edition, which takes place in special circumstances and times, through addressing the audience of BIPOD in Lebanon. For the first time the festival will not be organized in Beirut. It will take place from the city of Lyon that embraced their work and welcomed them through its different cultural institutions.

Thank you to all the partners and collaboraters that supported the festival, that still believe in culture, and th need to spread its voice.

Omar Rajeh - Maqamat | Citerne Beirut | Citerne.live
Ministère de la Culture Les SUBS - Lyon Lebanese American University - LAU Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (OIF) Institut français du Liban Goethe-Institut Libanon Pro Helvetia Pro Helvetia Cairo - Swiss Arts Council Embassy of Switzerland in Lebanon / Ambassade de Suisse au Liban سرية رام الله الأولى - الصفحة الرسمية - Sareyyet Ramallah المركز الوطني للثقافة والفنون -The National Center for Culture and Arts Culture Resource المورد الثقافي AFAC - The Arab Fund for Arts and Culture Théâtre Forum Meyrin Warde Saadallah & Loubna Khalil Foundation Communication & Media Services Alias-Guilherme Botelho MaHa ماها Pierre Rigal Jochen Roller STOCOS Yara Boustany KHANSA/خنسا Michel Tabet Talal Khoury Stéphane Darioly

03/08/2020

The largest professional gathering dedicated exclusively to contemporary dance , internationale tanzmesse nrw is going online this summer. Citerne Beirut & Maqamat/ Omar Rajeh and Mia Habis curate a mosaic of dance artists, Stephanie Kayal , Yara Boustany, Charlie Prince, Hamdi Dridi, Hiva Sedaghat, Mitra Kia , Sharaf DarZaid, Bassam Abou Diab all proposing works that are voicing and questioning deep cultural and political concerns about the body, its presence and/or absence.

And stay tuned on Tanzmesse Online Platform for the live discussion program about: "How to get dance back on the road? "happening live on the 27th of August 2020 at 16.00 h (CEST).

Citerne Beirut has curated a mosaic of dance artists presenting works that are voicing and questioning deep cultural and political concerns about the ...

29/09/2019

with | تضامناً مع
Marco Cantalupo & Katarzyna Gdaniec | Choreographers, Artistic directors | Compagnie Linga | Switzerland

To the Municipality of Beirut
To the Ministry of Culture
His Excellency Mr Saad Hariri
Pully, September 28th, 2019

Concern: Support Citerne Beirut
We write this letter in Solidarity with Maqamat and Citerne Beirut

On behalf of the Swiss dance organisation Compagnie Linga, and in the name of several more Swiss dance companies, which had the chance to perform in Bipod Festival, I want to express my sadness to the decision of closing Citerne Beirut. Citerne Beirut is the achievement of seventeen years of Maqamat hard work in building a
contemporary dance scene in Lebanon, and raising an attentive and captivated audience, an exceptional contemporary performing arts space, participating in developing the social and cultural landscape of the country.
Having the honor to perform last April in Citerne Beirut with the support of the Swiss Arts Council and the Embassy of Switzerland in Lebanon / Ambassade de Suisse au Liban , we had the possibility to experience the enthusiasm that the
Beirut audience reserves to the events planned by Maqamat, and the high vibration that occurs when contemporary art meet a population in an innovative space.
With respect we ask you to reconsider your decision to close down Citerne Beirut, a cultural centre in the heart of the city, a space that promotes and stimulates artistic excellence and sustains the artistic growth, and the development of emerging talent in Lebanon.
Citerne Beirut is an exceptional project, a place where citizens can meet different cultural forms and exchanges visions of art, an enriching experience, influencing the social and cultural landscape of the country, and a new generation of art lovers and artists.

Don’t hesitate to contact me for any more references.
Respectfully,
Compagnie Linga
Marco Cantalupo

Beirut Municipality بلدية بيروت
Lebanese Ministry Of Culture
Omar Rajeh - Maqamat
Saad Hariri

29/08/2019

"Citerne Beirut, a dynamic space for openness and free dialogue."

Nida Al Watan نداء الوطن - Maya Elkhoury - Omar Rajeh - Maqamat- Omar Rajeh

تستعدّ فرقة ''مقامات'' لعرضها الجديد الذي ستفتتحه العام المقبل من خلال مراحل ثلاث من التمارين في بيروت والخارج، كما تستمرّ في جولتها لعرض ''بيتنا'' في دول أوروبية عدّة ...

20/08/2019

with | تضامناً مع
Anouk van Dijk| Artistic Director & Jerry Remkes| Executive Director | Countertechnique | Melbourne, Australia

Melbourne, 19 August 2019
Re: Support Citerne Beirut

To the Beirut Municipality بلدية بيروت
To the Ministry of Culture (Lebanon)

We write this letter in support of Maqamat and Citerne Beirut. Directors Omar Rajeh and Mia Habis and their team have dedicated 17 years of hard work and full commitment to establish an exceptional contemporary dance scene in Lebanon and the Arab World.
It is with great sadness we have learned of your intention to close their home Citerne Beirut.

The value of places where arts and culture can be freely shared, where people can come together and experience emotion, where people can conceive and discuss new ideas, they cannot be underestimated. Places like Citerne Beirut play a pivotal role in the creative dynamism of contemporary cities, generating positive energy to realise the impossible and to bring home the world and vice versa. Closing Citerne Beirut down instead of helping them blossom, damages not just this amazing organisation, but impacts first and foremost their audiences, your citizens, your city and your country.

We strongly urge you to reconsider your position, and to support Maqamat in its mission to maintain and expand the infrastructure for contemporary dance in Beirut. With your support, Maqamat can continue to play the leading role in the international dance world it has been playing for such a long time.

Yours sincerely,
Anouk van Dijk & Jerry Remkes

17/08/2019

with | تضامناً مع
Shaun Parker | CEO & Artistic Director | Shaun Parker & Company, Arts Bunker, University of SydneyShaun Parker Cie | Australia

To Whom It May Concern:
I am writing on behalf of the Australian dance organisation Shaun Parker & Company that is based on the
University of Sydney campus in Australia, and by which is supported by the Australia Council for the Arts
and Create NSW.
I am also writing on behalf of our dancers, creative artists, production crew, and managerial team who
have all be involved in collaborative work with BIPOD including performances at the world-class facility
Citerne Beirut.
Shaun Parker & Company was funded by the Council of Australian Arab Relations (CAAR), the Department
of Foreign Affairs & Trade (DFAT through their ACDGP investment) and the Australia Council for the Arts to
visit Beirut as part of a cultural exchange program at Citerne Beirut this year (2019).
The Company’s experience at Citerne Beirut was a remarkable example of true cultural exchange between
Australia and Lebanon, and it is one that we hope to continue into the future. Beirut is so very fortunate to have such vital arts leaders such as Omar Rajeh and Mia Habis and their incredible team and cultural vision that is Citerne Beirut.
As a leading Australian cultural leader, I whole-heartedly support the vision and continuation of Citerne Beirut, the BIPOD – Beirut International Contemporary Dance Festival, and the outstanding work processes of Omar Rajeh and Mia Habis. Such a visionary project places Beirut and Lebanon on the international stage with several cultural and political benefits for both the short-term and the long-term.

Please do not hesitate to contact me for further information or support regarding this matter.

Yours sincerely,

Shaun Parker
CEO & Artistic Director
Shaun Parker & Company
Arts Bunker
University of Sydney
AUSTRALIA

17/08/2019

with | تضامناً مع
Palestinian Performing Arts Network |
بيان صادر عن شبكة الفنون الادائية الفلسطينية
البيرة - فلسطين المحتلة

نعلن في شبكة الفنون الادائية الفلسطينية عن استنكارنا ورفضنا الشديد لقرار إغلاق وهدم "سيتيرن بيروت"، معتبرين أن هذه الخطوة إنما تعبر عن تجاوز هائل لكل القيم الفنية والأفكار الحرة، واستهتار بطموح وأحلام مجموعة هائلة من الفنانين والمبدعين، والهروب بإغلاق مساحة واسعة يتجلى فيها التعدد والإختلاف في مقابل ترك المجال لنهج النار للسيطرة والامتداد، وإتاحة الفرصة أمام التخلف للسطو على جماليات وجوهر هذه البلاد، تحديداً في هذه اللحظات التاريخية التي تمر بها المنطقة.
إننا في شبكة الفنون الأدائية الفلسطينية والتي تتكون من خمسة عشر مؤسسة فنية فلسطينية، نشعر بشديد الحزن والأسى لما يحدث، متضامنين على مستوى التحشيد والمناصرة مع جمعية مقامات للرقص المعاصر ومع مهرجان بيروت للرقص المعاصر الذي ساهم بعملية النهوض بالفنون الادائية في لبنان خاصة والعالم العربي عموماً، وإن هدم هكذا مكان إنما هو سد الطريق أمام المهرجان والجمعية، وإزالة إسم بيروت كمنصة عربية فريدة في تنوعها الثقافي وغزارة إنتاجها الفني، وإنما يدل قرار الهدم على تورط أو جهل أو كلاهما بأهمية "سيتيرن بيروت"، وتضيق يزداد في ضغطه على الحريات العامة والفضاء الثقافي في الوطن العربي.
نحن ندعو جميع المؤسسات والمهرجانات والفنانين العرب للتضامن مع جمعية مقامات للرقص المعاصر، ونطالب باعادة فتح "سيتيرن بيروت" الذي يشكل مساحة هامة للفنانين والفنانات اللبنانيين والعرب والدوليين للتدريب والاقامات الفنية والانتاجات المشتركة، والتي تقدم نموذجاً لمدخول اقتصادي وتنوع ثقافي وفني للبنان ليزداد في ارتقاء فنه وإبداع.
وعليه، فإننا نطالب المسؤولين باتخاذ قرارات واضحة وصارمة لوقف هذه الخطوة، وندعو المؤسسة القضائية اللبنانية للإنحياز للثقافة والفنون باعتبارها جزء من الصالح العام، والوقوف إلى جانب ثقافة التنوير مقابل موج الظلام المحيط بنا، وأن ترفض الرفض التام أن يتم هدم مسرح لبناء محرقة.
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شبكة الفنون الأدائية تتكون من: فرقة الفنون الشعبية الفلسطينية، فرقة وشاح للرقص الشعبي، مدرسة سيرك فلسطين، مركز الفن الشعبي، مركز نقش للفنون الشعبية، مسرح الحارة، مسرح الحرية، مسرح عشتار، مسرح نعم، معهد إدوارد سعيد الوطني للموسيقى، معهد مانيفيكات للموسيقى، المؤسسة الفلسطينية للتنمية الثقافية (نوى)، مؤسسة ايام المسرح، جمعية الكمنجاتي الموسيقية، المسرح الشعبي.