In The Power (of) The Fragile Mohamed invites Latifa, his mother with him on stage. After being apart for several years, they find each other again in the theatre.

The Power (of) The Fragile is a meeting of two worlds, two bodies, two minds. Latifa always dreamt of being a dancer, Mohamed made it his profession. The borders of their bodies blur, making it hard to decipher where one ends and the other starts. Their lives and dreams start to merge, and only time claims its space between mother and son.

The Power (of) The Fragile is a collection of images, reflections on what the relation between mother and son can look like, on what it means to be home and to go away. It is a performance about movement, of bodies and people, about weight and what it means to carry weight, about being together and being apart. It is a tender portrait of a close relationship, and a pamphlet for our right to go wherever we want to go.

Mohamed Toukabri was born in Tunis and began dancing at the age of 12, starting with breakdance. He joined the Sybel Ballet Theatre (TN) led by Syheme Belkhodja (2002 – 2008). At the age of 16, Mohamed trained in Paris at the International Academy of Dance. In 2007 he returned to Tunis to study at the Mediterranean Centre for Contemporary Dance. He worked with the choreographer Imed Jemaa in 5 productions between 2006 and 2008.

In 2008, he started his studies at P.A.R.T.S. in Brussels, a dance school directed by Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker. During these studies he participated in Babel by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui and Damien Jalet from Eastman Company (BE) (2010). Mohamed was a member of Needcompany, the international performance company in Brussels founded by Jan Lauwers and Grace Ellen Barkey (2013-2018). He also performed in the remake of the repertory piece Zeitung by Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker (2012) and Sacré Printemps! by Aicha M’Barak and Hafiz Dhaou (Chatha Company (TN)) (2014).

Mohamed recently worked on the remake of the opera Shell Shock, A Requiem of War with the choreographer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, composer Nicholas Lens and writer Nick Cave for the 100th Anniversary of the World War I at the Philharmonie de Paris (2018.) He is also a part of Larbi’s newer creations; Nomad (2018) and the opera Alceste (choreographed for the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich, 2019).

His first self-devised work The Upside Down Man (the son of the road) premiered at the Me, Myself & I Festival in Hellerau, Dresden in May 2018. The work is currently on tour in Belgium, UK, France, Lille, Germany, Switzerland, Sweden and Austria. It was selected for Het Theaterfestival as part of the #NewYoung category ( September, 2019 ). Mohamed’s latest production isThe Power (of) The Fragile, a duet with his mother.

Concept and Choreography Mohamed Toukabri
Performance Mimouna (Latifa) Khamessi and Mohamed Toukabri
Dramaturgy Diane Fourdrignier
Technical Direction and Scenography Lies Van Loock
Technical Direction Tour Matthieu Vergez
Sound Design and Artistic Advice Annalena Fröhlich
Sound Technician Paola Pisciottano
Costume Design Ellada Damianou
Research and Development Eva Blaute
Internship Constant Vandercam
Special thanks to Estelle Baldé, Radouan Mriziga, Rim Toukabri, Bachir Toukabri, Sofiane Ouissi, Julia Reist, Maria-Carmela Mini, Synda Jebali, Yasmin Dammak, Elise Cnockaert and Liz Kinoshita

Executive Production Caravan Production
Coproduction Needcompany, Vooruit, Beursschouwburg, Dansens Hus Oslo
Residency Support Cultuurcentrum De Factorij, Needcompany, Vooruit, Charleroi Danse
With the support of The Flemish Authorities and the Flemish Community Commission