fringe Countdown

This programme is part of Amsterdam Fringe Festival.

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What if you don‘t see art, but feel it? Countdown is all about that experience. This sensory dance performance begins with impressive scenes full of contemporary dance, light and sound. Then something unexpected happens: the lights go out completely.

In total darkness, the audience is challenged to look differently – without eyes. What you saw before, you are now going to feel. Countdown is designed for the visually impaired, but is just as impressive for those who can see. It is an invitation to embrace the dark and leave behind the fear of it.

Issam Zemmouri tells a powerful story of identity, vulnerability, struggle and hope – a journey from light to darkness and back again.

Countdown is an experience that takes you beyond what is visible. An invitation to feel what you don’t normally perceive – and perhaps a different perspective on art and life. For everyone.

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Issam Zemmouri is a choreographer and dancer with a distinctive and personal style. His work interweaves contemporary dance with powerful physical expression and strong visual imagery. His movement language is unique: expressive, intense and always surprising. With his body, space and objects, he knows how to challenge and constantly renew the audience‘s perception.

What makes his work extra special is how he uses dance to explore sensitive and often difficult subjects – precisely where words fail. Dance becomes for Zemmouri a way to communicate, touch and connect.

Despite the fact that his eyesight has deteriorated over the years, he remains undiminished in his artistic ambitions. His visual impairment does not stop him from continuing to create, perform and inspire. Since 2019, he has been actively affiliated with ZID Theater in Amsterdam, where he continues to develop and express his artistic vision.

Zemmouri’s work is an invitation to look differently – not only at art, but also at the world around us.