Smuggled Tea
PERFORMANCESmuggled Tea is a series of performances trying to do the same thing over and over again: to make a dance performance through a collaboration of Mustafa Zeren, a Kurdish artist living in Diyarbakır and Fatih Gençkal, a Turkish artist living between İzmir and London, facilitated by Cansu Pelin İşbilen over 5 years (so far).
Part 2
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This piece is an invitation from the Kurdish-Turkish duo Mustafa and Fatih
where they welcome the audience to witness an hour of the second chapter of their collaborative conversation
towards making a dance piece together
at the margins of the international contemporary dance scene
over a glass of smuggled tea.
This piece investigates the systems of domination and control that vibrate through our practices and reflections starting from a very common moment of sharing a cup of smuggled tea. Why/how has this most basic drink earned an illegal status? How do we define things and how do these paradigms end up shaping our lives? And what does all this have to do with contemporary dance and how it is made?
a tibia x fibula creation
with Mustafa Zeren and Fatih Gençkal
in collaboration with Cansu Pelin İşbilen
coproduced by Moussem and Istanbul Fringe Festival
commissioned as part of Moussem Cities: Istanbul
residency support by Monty, Platform 0090
Duration: 60 min, no intermission
Language: English, Turkish and Kurdish (surtitles provided)
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Smuggled Tea Time
This piece is an invitation from the Kurdish-Turkish duo Mustafa and Fatih
where they welcome the audience to witness an hour of the second chapter of their collaborative conversation
towards making a dance piece together
at the margins of the international contemporary dance scene
over a glass of smuggled tea.
This piece investigates the systems of domination and control that vibrate through our practices and reflections starting from a very common moment of sharing a cup of smuggled tea. Why/how has this most basic drink earned an illegal status? How do we define things and how do these paradigms end up shaping our lives? And what does all this have to do with contemporary dance and how it is made?
a tibia x fibula creation
with Mustafa Zeren and Fatih Gençkal
in collaboration with Cansu Pelin İşbilen
coproduced by Moussem and Istanbul Fringe Festival
commissioned as part of Moussem Cities: Istanbul
residency support by Monty, Platform 0090
Duration: 60 min, no intermission
Language: English, Turkish and Kurdish (surtitles provided)
Part 1
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Smuggled Tea Performance is a playful mise-en–abîme of the impossible collaboration between a Turkish and a Kurdish artist within the complex sociopolitical landscape of Turkey. Fatih Gençkal and Mustafa Zeren embark on an extraordinary journey of making a dance performance together despite the power inequalities and economic struggles that permeate their lives.
Their curiosity in each other’s movements and imaginations rubs against the inertia of physical and creative distances. While they gleefully bump into the difficulties of collective creation as well as the fraught rules of choreography, will they keep the taste of friendship in their tea together? With gripping courage and transparency, Gençkal and Zeren explore the intricacies and pitfalls of bridging distinct biographies and heritages between İstanbul and Diyarbakır, unashamed of their blind spots along the way.
Masterfully switching between personal insights and critical jabs at the local and global art scene, (Smuggled) Tea time performance confers the vulnerability, responsibility, and determination of two men from the opposite corners of the country as they battle against the overwhelming burdens of making and sharing dance in Turkey today.
Concept and Choreography: Fatih Gençkal
Devised and Performed by: Mustafa Zeren, Fatih Gençkal
Dramaturgy: Eylül Fidan Akıncı
Space Design: Cansu Pelin İşbilen
Poster Design: Emre Yıldız
With the support of Daire Resident Artist Program, Loading Diyarbakır, Darağaç, PAL İzmir, Pure Space and K2 UNA
Press:
Theaterkrant.nl
deKanttekening.nl
Şalom
Duration: 60 min, no intermission
Language: English, Turkish and Kurdish (surtitles provided)
![]()
![]()
![]()
Smuggled Tea Performance
Smuggled Tea Performance is a playful mise-en–abîme of the impossible collaboration between a Turkish and a Kurdish artist within the complex sociopolitical landscape of Turkey. Fatih Gençkal and Mustafa Zeren embark on an extraordinary journey of making a dance performance together despite the power inequalities and economic struggles that permeate their lives.
Their curiosity in each other’s movements and imaginations rubs against the inertia of physical and creative distances. While they gleefully bump into the difficulties of collective creation as well as the fraught rules of choreography, will they keep the taste of friendship in their tea together? With gripping courage and transparency, Gençkal and Zeren explore the intricacies and pitfalls of bridging distinct biographies and heritages between İstanbul and Diyarbakır, unashamed of their blind spots along the way.
Masterfully switching between personal insights and critical jabs at the local and global art scene, (Smuggled) Tea time performance confers the vulnerability, responsibility, and determination of two men from the opposite corners of the country as they battle against the overwhelming burdens of making and sharing dance in Turkey today.
Concept and Choreography: Fatih Gençkal
Devised and Performed by: Mustafa Zeren, Fatih Gençkal
Dramaturgy: Eylül Fidan Akıncı
Space Design: Cansu Pelin İşbilen
Poster Design: Emre Yıldız
With the support of Daire Resident Artist Program, Loading Diyarbakır, Darağaç, PAL İzmir, Pure Space and K2 UNA
Press:
Theaterkrant.nl
deKanttekening.nl
Şalom
Duration: 60 min, no intermission
Language: English, Turkish and Kurdish (surtitles provided)
