Charlie Prince to a still moment repeated
In Partnership with Festival Accès Asie
Inspired by his grandfather Samir Tabet, a centenary painter and artist in Beirut, Charlie Prince has always been interested in the notion of the portrait. The witnessing and making of a portrait allow one to meditate into the humanity and vulnerability of the subject, revealing their otherwise imperceptible depth and inner –universe. Alongside film-maker Karim Ghorayeb, Charlie created video portraits of individuals of varying social classes, religious backgrounds and generations in his home country of Lebanon. Each subject was asked to jump or sense a jump in front of the camera within the intimacy of their homes. This was followed by a discussion on their dreams and fantasies of falling, flying and every moment of possibility in between. Lebanon is drowning in collapse, political violence and financial catastrophy. It felt necessary, more than ever, to propose images of bodies that are not succumbing to a failed state, but rather ascending beyond the systemic violence and geopolitical turbulence.
to a still moment repeated is a profound meditation on hope and the body’s capacity to find the poetics within, one that is as inseparable from its sense of power and agency, regardless of the context.
How do grace and resistance meet?
How do the poetics of the body meet the politics of its environment?
Is the body flying or falling?
Leaping into open space, the subjects are unconcerned and indifferent to the imminency of their fall, they are suspended in time – in the decisive moment between action and reaction:
Is the body falling or flying?
Charlie Prince (1991) is a Lebanese dance and performance artist. His interests are rooted in the intersection of the political and the poetic body, and the many profound resonances this may create. His transdisciplinary choreographic works have been presented in several major festivals and theatres, including ImPulsTanz Festival, Dansmakers Amsterdam, Rencontres chorégraphiques internationales de Seine-Saint-Denis, Vancouver International Dance Festival, Oktoberdans, Fabricca Europa, and Beirut International Platform of Dance. Charlie holds a Bachelor of Music from McGill University in Montréal with a minor in Religious Studies and continues to engage as a composer in his artistic practice. In 2023 he was artist in residence at the Villa Empain in Brussels, after having received the Prize for Dance and Performance awarded by the Boghossian Foundation in Belgium. He was also an apap (advancing performing arts project) 2020 artist supported by the European Union Commission for Culture from 2017 to 2020.
