There is no East,
There may never be a Sun
Laila Malik
Oil is a deadly pearl.
Sun Eaters is a contemporary folk dance about the mythological origins of petrol, about the long cycles of violence that it initiates, steeped in wars, dangerous gods and death poems. It is inspired by petro-magic, pre-islamic figures, and the tradition of vengeful dances.
If oil is an immense, collective, anonymous material, it can be accessed through another similarly collective and anonymous material: folk dance is a perfect device for this purpose. It is alive, unburied, incarnated, and it waves back at us. Oil is a vicious poem hidden in darkness.
Sun Eaters blends dances from Norway, Brittany and West Asia. It is drenched in doom metal, pre-islamic iconography, levantine maqams and Norwegian curse tunes. Sun Eaters twists and betrays what it summons, and rekindles with the cruelty of oil to incarnate its deadly, seductive smile.
The piece uses sources from doom metal, pre-Islamic iconography, Levantine maqams, west asian death poetry, and cursed Norwegian tunes.
Press:
‘When the performance ignites, however, it does so with convincing fervor: Sun Eaters suddenly becomes a mesmerizing folk dance that draws you into a dark universe where oil not only exists but lives. And it is precisely in these moments that the performance reveals its true potential: uncompromising, raw, and inescapable.’
Gina Miroula, Teaterkrant
https://www.theaterkrant.nl/recensie/sun-eaters/jassem-hindi-sina-seifee-frascati-producties/
CREDITS:
Concept, scenography, sound: Jassem Hindi & Sina Seifee
Choreography: Jassem Hindi
Dance: Charlott Utzig, Paolo de Venecia Gile, Harald Beharie (in alternance with Alexandra Tveit, Trine Lise Moe)
Production: Marie Ursin
Outside eye and support: Simon Portigal, Mira Adoumier
Production: Lisa Bakk Bøen
Duration:60 min.
Performed at:
Frascati Amsterdam, BIT Bergen, Dansenshus Oslo, RAS Sandnes, Schedhalle Zurich, Art Pavillion Zagreb, Vinterscene Porsgrunn (Feb. 2026)
Supported by:
Kulturrådet - Arts Council Norway and Ammodo
Co-production:
RAS - Regional Arena for Samtidsdans
Moderna Dansteatern
wpZimmer
Beursschouwburg
Grenland Friteater
Samar Productions
Frascati Producties
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Folk dances: broken, incomplete, transforming the dancer into a sun eater. Folk dances are when bodies need to speak first. They are the joyous language of darkness. Folk dances are made on the edges of dark forests at dusk, in moonlit deserts, close to icy rivers. They are collective rebellions against the light, the obedient, the coherent. It is sacred knowledge: its darkness is an illumination within an illumination.
Sources:
Sun Eaters is partially based on Cyclonopedia by Reza Negarestani, associating pre-islamic iconography to analyze our political landscape, the studies of mesopotamian rituals concerning snakes, the cult of Pazuzu, the horror poetry of Aase Berg, the war writings of Pierre Guyotat, the mythical poems of Laila Malik, the description of bodies in Hassan Blasim’s novels, the movie The House is Black by Forough Farrokhzad, and living documentation of exalted folk dances from Norway, Brittany and West Asia (Iran and Palestine).
