We Came to Dance
Ali Asghar Dashti, Nasim Ahmadpour
- Events, Paris
- Tue 18 Nov → Sat 22 Nov 2025, 19:30
Location
Studio Marie-Claude Beaud
Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain
Porte Saint-Honoré
DirectionsPrice
10€ | 15€
Estimated duration of each performance: 1h10
Infos
7.30 p.m.
In farsi, subtitled in French
We Came to Dance questions the place of art in the face of censorship. Conceived by author Nasim Ahmadpour and director Ali Asghar Dashti, this performance invites the audience to imagine a forbidden dance, between memory, resistance and poetry.
What does it mean to be a dancer when dancing is prohibited? How does it feel to be forced to refrain from doing something you have dedicated your entire life to? Starting from these questions, Iranian playwright Nasim Ahmadpour and director Ali Asghar Dashti create a breathtaking performance. On stage, two completely immobile dancers describe the movements they would have made if they could dance. These descriptions of a hand gesture or a step to the side allow the audience to reconstruct a choreography that can no longer be created. This detailed and moving account intertwines with episodes from recent history, like the story of theatre director Hamid Samandarian, who was banned from working in theatres in the early 1980s. His company decided to open a restaurant instead, and when the first customers arrived, they felt the same stress as if it were an audience entering the theatre hall. Can anyone stop being who they are? In another episode, an imprisoned director wonders if, by making his fellow prisoners act, he could stop being a prisoner for a moment. Taking its title from a song verse, We Came to Dance is a theatrical gem and a love letter to the stage.
As part of the Festival d'Automne 2025.
-
We Came to dance Photo © Cyril Marcilhacy -
We Came to dance Photo © Cyril Marcilhacy
Ali Asghar Dashti
With over 30 years in theatre, Ali Asghar Dashti is one of Iran's most active theatre directors and educators. Beginning his career in 1993, Dashti has developed an extensive portfolio in directing, stage design, and more. He is the co-founder and head of the Don Quixote Theatre Group and serves as CEO of the Interdisciplinary Cultural-Artistic Institute: Names and Signature. Over his career, Dashti has directed more than 25 productions both in Iran and internationally, achieving notable recognition at various international festivals and artistic forums. As an educator, he has taught at the University of Tehran and Tehran Art University and has been actively involved as a manager, consultant, and member of artistic committees and festivals. His research and writing contributions cover numerous artistic disciplines, including theses, books, and articles. Dashti is also an instructor and consultant in theatre workshops and seminars, further solidifying his impact on Iran’s theatre community.
Nasim Ahmadpour
Nasim Ahmadpour is a theatre director, playwright, and screenwriter. She co-founded the Don Quixote theatre group in Tehran in 2003. Since then, she has written eight plays for the group. Ahmadpour has co-written scripts for five short films as well as feature films with director Shahram Mokri. Fish and Cat and Careless Crime were screened at the Venice Film Festival in 2014 and 2020, respectively, while Invasion was featured at the Berlin Film Festival in 2018. The Careless Crime screenplay was nominated at the Asia-Pacific Film Festival and won the Bisato d’Oro Award for Best Original Screenplay at the Venice Film Festival in 2020. Her play, The Report on the Judgment Day, was performed in a private underground hall in Tehran, and its text was presented at the Performa Biennale in New York in 2023. We Came to Dance was premiered at Kunstentartfestivel 2024 in Brussels.
Credits
Design, creation and text by Nasim Ahmadpour. Direction Ali Asghar Dashti (for Nasim Ahmadpour). Performers Hamid Pourazari, Ilnaz Shabani. With the presence of Nasim Ahmadpour, Ali Asghar Dashti. Project supervision Shahram Mokri. Choreography Mostafa Shabkhan. Video by Mohammadreza Rahmati. Lighting Niloofar Naghibsadati. Graphic design Farhad Fozouni. Technology Jafar Hejazi. Directing Fatemeh Rouzbahani.
Production Don Quixote Theatre Group & Interdisciplinary Cultural-Artistic Institute Names and Signatures Production delegate of the European tour Festival d'Automne in Paris Coproduction Kunstenfestivaldesarts (Brussels), BAM Teatro ART HAPPENS Broadcast
Le Festival d'Automne à Paris is the executive producer of this show’s European tour and presents it in co-realisation with the Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain.
Events
-
- Paris
La gran mentira de la muerte
Wu Tsang
- Tue 02 Dec → Fri 12 Dec 2025
- Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain
-
- Paris
- 25 Oct 2025 → 23 Aug 2026, every Sunday, 11:00
- Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain
Change language
- English
- Français
- Arabic أهلًا بك في مؤسّسة Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain
- Deutsch Willkommen bei der Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain
- Español Bienvenida a la Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain
- Italiano Ti diamo il benvenuto alla Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain
- Japanese Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain へようこそ
- Chinese 欢迎来到Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain
- Korean Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain에 오신 것을 환영합니다