Currently in its early research phase, Niswa is a new dance performance work that examines how bodies of Arab and North African women are viewed by the Western gaze, and that challenges the Western colonial expectations from these bodies in performance.
In Niswa, we, a group of Arab and North African women, explore how we can reclaim the presence of our bodies in performance away from orientalism and Western fetishization.
Niswa defies the expectation of displaying female Arab and North African bodies as eroticized and commodified, ready for consumption by the colonial orientalist gaze. Niswa breaks the stereotype of Arab/North African female dancers needing to entertain a Western audience or needing to be rescued, feeding the white saviour fantasy.
Choreographer and founder of Jasad Dance Projects, Meryem Alaoui, is delighted to be joined by dance artists Mona El Husseini (MTL), Roula Said (TO), Corinne Skaff (MTL) and Esraa Warda (NYC) to continue their research together during their TDT residency, from April 28th to May 9th, 2025.
The residency will culminate in an open rehearsal/public showing on Friday May 9th, 2025.
Creator
MERYEM ALAOUI
Originally from Rabat, Morocco, Meryem Alaoui is a dancer-choreographer based in Toronto, Canada. She is the founder and co-artistic director of Jasad Dance Projects.
Her work is at the intersection of somatic research using movement and voice, and the exploration of contemporaneity through the reclamation of embodied performance practices, dances and knowledge from her culture as a Moroccan diasporic dance artist.
Her choreographic works have been presented in Montreal, Toronto, Hamilton and Morocco, and she has received residency support nationally and internationally, and project funding from the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council and the Toronto Arts Council.
She has taught somatic exploration and Body- Mind Centering® workshops in Toronto, Calgary, Edmonton and Morocco. Meryem is also involved in community and arts- education projects such as with Arts Etobicoke, Singing Our Stories Festival, Dreamwalker Dance and The Arab Community Centre of Toronto.
Meryem holds a B.A. from McGill University (Montreal) and is a graduate of the Toronto School of Dance Theatre.