AfterMyth

On three silver screens, we see projections of masked figures on a deserted, snow-covered beach. The figures are dancing, cheerleading, and navigating this nameless, ambiguous future. As their dance endlessly repeats, other apparitions loom in the darkness of the theatre. Screen and stage, video and dance flow into one another. Through a pop-horror dream sequence, Noha Ramadan takes us into the inner world of a figure wrestling with monumental forces and stories. Projected across three silver screens, masked figures dance on a desolate, snow-covered beach. Set in an unnamed, ambiguous future, their ghostly cheerleading, pas-de-bourees and navigational gestures appear as remnants of a world that has ended. As the dance loops endlessly on screen, other appearances loom in the darkness of the theatre. Through a distinctly cinematic and poetic language, Noha Ramadan drives us into the interior world of a figure grappling with external forces and narratives. Inspired by Rita Lucarelli's notion of “doorscapes” — a term used to describe the many gates and guardians depicted in Egyptian funeral iconography — they propose a choreography of images and voice in motion. AfterMyth is a deeply personal work which explores shared notions of loss and transformation, and searches for what comes to life in the gap between the frames. Featuring citations from: the Egyptian book of the Dead (trans. Rita Lucarelli), the film ‘Al Mummia - the night of counting the years’ by Shadi Abdel Salam (1969), Anne Carson, Salmon Rushdie, Jeanette Winterson, and personal writing (2021 - 2024). • Noha Ramadan (1979) is an Egyptian-Australian choreographer, performer, and teacher who creates performances and organizes events with other artists, drawing on a long and continuous practice of dance improvisation. Their work makes use of a clearly articulated cinematic and poetic language that attempts to articulate the body's capacity for transformation and questions the premise of our shared reality. Ramadan lives in Amsterdam and is part of the city’s Jakoozi collective.