Aya Sabi
theater theater makerWipcoop & beyond
#WIPCOOP 2024Is one life enough to be whole again? is an interdisciplinary performance by Aya Sabi that transcends theater walls. The narratological conflict is the paradox between rationality and irrationality. An ode to irrationality, this performance becomes a sensory experience. Sense is emphasized through cooking. Shams (main character) chooses cooking because cooking is the language of her intergenerational comfort. It connects her to her mother and grandmother. However, there is also a deeper layer associated with physicality. Trauma can really be healed by the body. This is scientifically explained by the Polyvagal theory. This theory includes a number of simple exercises that make the body feel safe again.
It’s simple: when we do things with our bodies we become happy.
Aya Sabi (she/her) is a literary creator and teaches at the Academy of Music Word Dance in Genk. She is now writing the screenplay for the musical theater play Tabula Rogeriana. In August 2022, her debut novel Half leven was published by Das Mag publishers. She won the PrixFintro Public Prize 2023 with Half leven and was shortlisted for the Confituur Boekhandel Prize 2023, the Hebban Debut Prize 2023 and the Opzij Literatuur Prize 2023. The novella Juli, part of a series by Das Mag, was published in 2023. In April 2024, Aya Sabi won an Ultima for Emerging Talent and in May 2024, the 2024 Jonge Veer. Babs Gons, laureate of the 2024 Gouden Ganzenveer, chose Aya Sabi because she is “an important and much-needed voice, both within the arts and in the social debate.”
Concept: Aya Sabi – Performance: Dounia Mahammed – Dramaturgy: Esther Severi – With the support of C-Mine, TAZ and MESTIZO ARTS PLATFORM/WIPCOOP.