Reading the room by Imre Vass, a site-specific contemporary dance performance based on knowledge-sharing workshops with local participants will be part of Open Kitchen for Performing Arts, organized by Theatre is a Must festival in Alexandria, Egypt.
Hungarian dancer and choreographer, Imre Vass’s improvisational and performative practice invites the audience to witness a journey of investigating precarious routines of increasing the sensitivity of attention.
The performer is a host who is familiar with spending time in the ‘room’. For the first glance the ‘room’ looks empty, normal, nothing spectacular. But the ‘room’ is a concrete yet an abstract place as well where one can shift its perspective from the mundane to the magical and metaphysical. Where new narratives and insights can emerge from „stalking” the room while sinking into our own bodies and selves as spectators as well as the performer. The emptiness of the room turns into a theatrical situation while the performer „fills” it with objects, light and sound.
The term ‘reading the room’ refers to an ability to pick up subtle, non-verbal cues of group of people, understanding the mood and the atmosphere of a social situation. In addition to this the performance explores how the locality (physical parameters, the genius loci and the context) shapes the piece.
Therefore, the performance operates with three aspects of ‘reading’:
On a personal level the performer explores a practice of figuring out the way how to position oneself in relation to the given conditions, how to trace positions, relations and connections.
The performance aims at offering a practice of getting in touch with the physical space (spatial dimension) and getting in dialogue with the historical place (temporal dimension).
Furthermore, the performance tackles an important socio-cultural level: in Hungary we find ourselves in a claustrophobic state of mind caused by the oppression by the authoritarian regimes in our countries – the ‘room’ is conceived as a closed and claustrophobic space where people breathe the air away from each other, but at the same time they also rely on each other.
As the performance is always adapted to the local conditions and the venue, therefore the performer shape the final piece together with local participants, thorough practice-sharing workshops which are conceived as a platform for mutual exchange of knowledge and experiences.
Dates: 7PM, 9th and 10th Novembre 2025
Venue: Shelter Art Space, 52 Fouad, Al Attarin Sharq, Al Attarin, Alexandria Governorate 5372050
Open Kitchen for Performing Arts
Open Kitchen for Performing Arts is an artistic event dedicated to performing arts works-in-progress, which adopts a research-based and experimental concept. It is based on intensive workshops between artists from different cultural backgrounds, meetings between performance artists with varied experiences at different stages of their careers, or encounters between artists and new work environments and new audiences.
Open Kitchen for Performing Arts is an experimental space that celebrates the artistic creation process and its complex stages. It opens a door for the public to engage in a dialogue with artists and performance makers about the industry, the craft, and the inspiration.
This first edition will feature three multimedia performances, blending theater, contemporary dance, and contemporary music performance.
Open Kitchen for Performing Arts is supported by
Goethe-Institut Alexandria,
Goethe-Institut Cairo,
Jesuit Cultural Center Alexandria,
rock sound studio,
Shelter Art space ،
Placcc Festival Budapest
National Cultural Foundation Hungary
The international touring of ‘Reading the Room’ is supported by
National Cultural Foundation Hungary
Ministry of Culture and Innovation Hungary
Katlan Csoport
More information on the artist:
www.imrevass.com
www.instagram.com/_imrevass/
aqb.hu/in-house-artist/imre-vass/
More information on the hosting festival:
https://www.hewartheater.com/theater-is-a-must
https://www.facebook.com/Theater.A.Must