Knife Hearts at Rawabet Art Space (D-CAF)

Knife Hearts is an international co-production between Egypt and Germany, which brings together four dancers—three Egyptian and one Turkish-German—who challenge Western definitions of dance and performance, as well as the expectations imposed on them. Drawing on raqs sharqi, mahraganat, and urban dance practices from Egypt and the region, the dancers expand and reconfigure the vocabulary of contemporary dance.
Examining mahraganat through a dramaturgical lens, the dancers challenge social scripts in both Egypt and Germany by posing the question, Who gets to perform, and why? What happens when dance is displaced from its original context? What is the role of the audience in receiving and interpreting a dancing body?
Amid classism and growing discrimination and racial violence against bodies perceived as Arab, Turkish, or Muslim, mahraganat may offer a different way of seeing. Its motifs of fighting, knives, and fire become a choreography of virtuosity and control, transforming symbols of aggression into connection, togetherness, and celebration. The knives may be out, but here they cut through borders and assumptions, creating space for encounters and collective celebration.

Part of D-CAF 14, the Downtown Contemporary Arts Festival (11 October to 2 November 2026).

Venue: Rawabet Art Space, 5 Hussein Basha El Meamari, Downtown Cairo.
Details and registration: https://d-caf.org/event/knife-hearts/