Nobody Told Me
For
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Disadvantaged people
Time period
August 2016
The project
Thirty participants from a variety of backgrounds, all of whom arrived in Luxembourg as refugees, took part in this week of projects, which also showcased their personal stories and experiences through a show giving an insight into their lives, always in an artistic and metaphorical way.
The project was supervised by an international team of five members who distinguished themselves by their skills and ideas, both artistic and pedagogical. The workshop leaders worked under the artistic direction of Catherine Elsen (London). Bassam Ghazi (Cologne/Lebanon), in charge of the theatre group, incorporated the participants' stories into his work. Golrokh Nafisi's (Amsterdam/Iran) set design workshop explored the issues of origin, arrival and travel, creating maps tracing the origins and journeys of the participants.
At the end of the show, the complete map of Luxembourg City appeared on stage. The participants painted, drew and created as the play unfolded, creating a kind of living scenography. Laurent Warnier (Amsterdam/Luxembourg) and Luxembourg Philharmonic Orchestra musician Benjamin Schäfer (Trier/Luxembourg), in charge of the percussion group, developed rhythms, melodies and sounds with the performers.
This project focused on music as a unifying instrument. It turned out that singing played a particularly important role in communication and could serve as a link between different cultures and individuals. For one week, people from more than ten different countries were able to understand each other through a unique language, that of art.
After the second performance, which took place as part of the Last Summer Dance Festival in Erpeldange, the need to continue the project was obvious. This summer week has led to two other projects being organised on a regular basis. In addition to a drama group due to start in January, group rehearsals take place every week at the Philharmonie, under the direction of Benjamin Schäfer.
