The fifth edition of Perform Sharjah considers how we move, remember, work and play through a curated season of performances. Treating the body as a site of artistic inquiry, the programme shifts fluidly between intimate reflection and collective experience. As such, this iteration includes performances by a diverse set of international artists who create spaces for both active participation and quiet observation. 

In Mohamed Toukabri’s Every-Body-Knows-What-Tomorrow-Brings-And-We-All-Know-What-Happened-Yesterday, bodies become vessels of memory—carrying the weight of personal histories and cultural heritage. Turning to the history of dance, the performance asks: what does it mean to reimagine inherited hierarchies? 

Building on this challenging of systems and structures, Nathan Ellis’s work.txt—performed entirely by the audience—navigates a story about labour, automation and the tenuous boundaries between work and life. From this collective effort, we drift into the stillness of Maria Hassabi’s Us, which transforms the act of looking into a shared experience between the performers and audiences watching them.

Mallika Taneja invites viewers to join her in a journey through memory and loss, using song and storytelling to recover a forgotten voice in Do you know this song? This reclamation of voice resonates with Sofiane Chalal’s XXL, where the dancer and choreographer centres ‘non-standard’ bodies to dismantle pejorative labels and celebrate a journey towards acceptance and recognition. 

From this exploration of the individual body, we reckon with history in Sim Chi Yin’s multi-media performance and installation Longings, Returns which sheds light on mass deportations in British-ruled Malaya.

The programme also creates room for engaging pursuits that integrate play and imagination. Sebastian Mayer’s participatory project, Hannibaby and Zarafa, urge families to take part in the creation of living, evolving artworks.

Returning this season, Perhaps Here presents newly commissioned site-specific works in Bait Al Serkal over three days. Featuring performances by emerging and established artists, Perhaps Here explores the orbits of contemporary imagination through short and intimate presentations.

At Perform Sharjah, the medium of performance serves as an engaging space for exploring, remembering and imagining. Together, the works bring alternative histories and perspectives into dialogue, asking us to see familiar routines with fresh eyes and to embrace the unknown.