Sorour Darabi (IR)

Residency period: May-June 2025

sorourdarabi.flywheelsites.com

Sorour Darabi is a transdisciplinary artist and choreographer, born in Shiraz and based in Paris since 2013. A graduate of the Master Exerce program at ICI—Centre chorégraphique national de Montpellier, their work has been presented internationally at venues and festivals such as Palais de Tokyo, Tanzquartier Wien, Tanztage Berlin, Centre Pompidou, Fundación PROA, Zürcher Theater Spektakel, Arsenic—Centre d’art scénique contemporain, La Villette, Festival d’Automne à Paris, Kunstenfestivaldesarts, among others. His practice is grounded in research on Persian literature and queer histories in Iran, weaving these legacies together with contemporary sociopolitical concerns.

At La Becque, Sorour Darabi will develop MAJNÛN, a choreographic opera in both solo and collective forms, set to premiere in November 2026 at Arsenic – Centre d’art scénique contemporain in Lausanne. Rooted in the Arabic-Persian figure of Majnûn, an archetype of lovesick madness from medieval poetry, the project explores trance, vertigo, and poetic excess through physical and vocal experimentation. Drawing from the rich cultural heritage of the Khalij region on his father’s side—marked by historical migrations and syncretic spiritual traditions—Sorour Darabi will interweave Shi’a, Sunni, and Sufi influences, vernacular languages, and musical practices into a haunting invocation of possessed bodies, forbidden love, and spectral memory.

Sorour Darabi, La Becque, 2025, photo Aurélien Haslebacher