The Odor of Elephants After the Rain is dance film presented within a solo dance and lecture performance.
Acknowledging that the first gesture of an architectural space is to welcome our human body by offering it a space to live in and a concept to live by, The Odor of Elephants After the Rain questions this body in moments of crisis and disasters and its remaining possibilities, vulnerabilities, resilience, revolt, or simply its being in moments of catastrophe. The piece relates to a body searching for its space, environment, and shelter.

The piece is a personal but also political and social retrospective. For Omar Rajeh, these questions started with the forced dismantling of Citerne Beirut, a cultural centre in the heart of the city, in August 2019, the political and economic collapse in Lebanon, followed by the Covid-19 global crisis, and finally the tragic port explosion in August 2020 that destroyed half of the city of Beirut, killing and injuring thousands.

All of these incidents together with news of unrest, demonstrations, unfortunate accidents, and inequality all over the World, proposes a question of our own architecture as humans in crisis, our thoughts and behaviour, reflections of reality and/or those of a destroyed one.

concept & choreography: Omar Rajeh
music composition (stage): Joss Turnbull
technical director & light design: Christian François
technician: Blandine Laennec
administrator: Bruno Viguier
film directed by Selim Mourad
music composition: Charbel Haber
director of photography: Talal Khoury
editor: Sandra Fatte
sound Design: Rana Eid
dancers: Mia Habis, Charlie Prince, Omar Rajeh
guest speaker: Rana Khoury
additional camera: Anthony Faye / Danc.Cin.Lab.
executive producer: Tarte aux Poires Experiential / Ricky Dakouny, Michael Hanna
colorist: Chrystel Elias
assistant editor: Dikranouhi Kurkjian
sound artist: Marita Sbeih Foley
recording: Patrick Chakar Foley
re-recording mixe: Lama Sawaya
1st assistant camera: Luna Abi Raad
drone operator: Kameel Rayyes
on-set sound: Patrick Chakar Key
production assistant: Adel Serhal
post-production: Lucid

a production of Maqamat | Omar Rajeh
film commissioned and co-produced by the Edinburgh International Festival, with funding from the British Council
co-produced by CN D Centre national de la danse à Lyon
supported by Maison de la Danse, Lyon dans le cadre d’une mise à disposition studio, CCN2 – Centre chorégraphique national de Grenoble, dans le cadre de l’accueil studio, Tanzfabrik Berlin in the frame of apap – Performing Europe / Production Studio Berlin / EU Creative Europe Programme, D Beirut, Forum de Beirut, Citerne Beirut
Maqamat is supported by Direction régionale des affaires culturelles d’Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and la Ville de Lyon.

[photo: Romain Tissot]