Smuggled Tea Time
Smuggled Tea Diaries Part 2
2025
a tibia x fibula creation with Mustafa Zeren and Fatih Gençkal in collaboration with Cansu Pelin İşbilen coproduced by Moussem and Istanbul Fringe Festival commissioned as part of Moussem Cities Istanbul Residency support Monty and Platform 0090
Duration: 60’
On opposite corners of the same country, Turkish artist Fatih Gençkal and Kurdish artist Mustafa Zeren take their dance practice to the edge—and then keep going. As smuggled tea simmers on a wobbly tray (just like their sense of stability), they stir together their biases, their training, their everyday struggles, and their half-buried dreams. What emerges is not just a dance piece, but an invention of a pirate, DIY, critical choreography carved out on the fringes of the international contemporary dance world.
Starting from the simple act of sharing a cup of tea—illegal, somehow—they ask: how did this most basic drink become contraband? Who decides what's allowed, and how do those decisions shape our lives, our movements, our art? And what does any of this have to do with how contemporary dance gets made?
Next:
05.06.2025 at 7 pm
Friche la Belle de Mai - Small plateau, Les Rencontres à l’Echelle, Marseille
Premiere:
Kaaistudios, Brussels, February 14, 2025 as part of Moussem Cities Istanbul
