Trigger Warning: The contents of this production contain topics of rape, sexual abuse, and violence and may be disturbing to some viewers. Please step away and take care if needed.

Program details:

Featuring Farah Saleh and Siham Fayad
Format: Interview, Artist Presentation

Artistic Presentation of Cells of Illegal Education
Cells of Illegal Education (C.I.E) is a video dance installation that revisits gestures of civil disobedience carried out during the First Intifada in Occupied Palestine. More specifically it reenacts, transforms and deforms gestures exercised by Birzeit University students between 1988 and 1992 while trying to continue their education process at a time when schools and universities were closed by Israeli military rule and students and teachers who refused to abide were labeled “Cells of Illegal Education”. The illegal classes were organized in alternative spaces, such as houses, the university entrance and the university itself. The video revolves around two group pictures and a painting documenting these three situations. It attempts to recreate the students acts before, during and after the pictures were taken.
Intertwining archival materials, oral testimonies and imagination this installation is a gestural reflection on the phenomenon of civil disobedience and popular resistance during the First Intifada and their echoes in our contemporary times, from romanticism to reenactment.

Concept and choreography: Farah Saleh
Dancers: Salma Ataya, Fayez Kawamleh, Ibrahim Feno, Maali Khaled, Hiba Harhash, Farah Saleh.
Video director: Mohanad Yaqubi | Cinematography: Sami Said | Production manager: Zina Zarour
Music: Muqata'a I Colouring: Karam Ali
Funded by: Arab Fund for Arts and Culture (AFAC)
Supported by: Sareyyet Ramallah and A.M Qattan Foundation

Thanks to Birzeit University, Salem Thawaba, Nicola Perugini, Ruba Saleh, Sawsan Shunnar, Saleh Ra’fat, Khaled Elayyan, Alaa’ Azzeh, Mayssoun Sukarieh, Khaled Hourani, Serene Huleileh, Yamila Hussein, Rawand Abed, Khadijeh Eweidat, Neve Gordon, Ariella Azoulay, Manal Issa, Emil Ashrawi, Faiha Abulhadi, Karmen Kishek, the Edward Said National Conservatory.

Interview
Farah Saleh, Dancer, Choreographer farahsaleh.com
Siham Fayad, Community organizer, Systemic conflict analyst