Dance Performance
How did I end up in this place? بعيد عن العين، بعيد عن القلب is a personal dream, a red dream—one that moves through desire, restriction, and trauma, carrying the weight of histories both personal and collective. It is a journey into a body that has been shaped by imposed narratives yet refuses to be contained by them.
Image gallery
Hend El-Balouty
Hend El-Balouty
Set within the charged atmosphere of an Egyptian underground nightclub, the performance moves between Mahraganat street dance, belly dance, and fragmented language, not to exoticize, but to reclaim. The body speaks—through movement, through breath, through defiance—challenging the patriarchal gaze, the Western-imposed narratives, and the selective solidarities that dictate whose struggles matter.
Arabic and English intertwine, but in the end, language is secondary. The struggle is one. Race, gender, and class are inseparable, personal and political. To free the body is to free the mind—to free all.
This performance is not an invitation to observe, but a demand to witness, to feel, and to question. It is followed by a DJ-set.
Additional information
Hend Elbalouty (EG/DE) is a choreographer, performer, author, and body practitioner exploring the intersection of cultural practices, social class, and artistic expression. She holds an MA in Performing Arts from Kunsthochschule für Medien Köln and has been actively researching cultural practices and the representation of social class in the art scene.
Her work delves into the politics of movement, notably through her award-winning performance inspired by Egyptian street dance (Mahraganat), which earned her the Großer Kunstpreis der Freunde der KHM 2021. This research led to her first book, Mahraganat Dance: Between Acceptance and Rejection (2023), presented in cultural spaces across Germany and Egypt.
Hend continues to push artistic boundaries by integrating Arabic language into performance in Germany, she is constantly exploring the role of art as a tool to empower the individual and bring out those neglected modes of expression.
www.hendelbalouty.com
Her work delves into the politics of movement, notably through her award-winning performance inspired by Egyptian street dance (Mahraganat), which earned her the Großer Kunstpreis der Freunde der KHM 2021. This research led to her first book, Mahraganat Dance: Between Acceptance and Rejection (2023), presented in cultural spaces across Germany and Egypt.
Hend continues to push artistic boundaries by integrating Arabic language into performance in Germany, she is constantly exploring the role of art as a tool to empower the individual and bring out those neglected modes of expression.
www.hendelbalouty.com
Participating artists
Hend Elbalouty
Matthew George McDonald-Bates
Maurice Louca
Julius Schiemdel
Rubee Fegan
Dates
May 2025
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