A dreamlike ritual interrupted by the real
Light Has Teeth begins with a body almost swallowed by hair. What looks like protection slowly becomes weight, costume, landscape, trap and instrument.
In this first chapter of a larger performance, vocalist and composer Sanam Tahmasebi and dancer Roshanak Morrowatian move through a ritual of emergence where voice, hair, sound and live projected image keep shifting roles. The stage becomes a living score, where sound rises from the hair and image is touched into being.
The work does not tell one story. It follows a body trying to surface, a voice trying to stay present, and a freedom that arrives with gravity. Somewhere between dream and reality, tenderness and pressure, Light Has Teeth turns emergence into a question: what do you become when light has teeth?
Sanam Tahmasebi
Sanam Tahmasebi is a Tehran-born vocalist, versatile instrumentalist, composer, performer and interdisciplinary artist based in Amsterdam. Her work moves between voice, sound, movement, text and performance, drawing on Persian musical memories, jazz, improvisation, electroacoustic sound and collaborative stage practices. Within music theatre, dance, film, installation and live performance, she explores themes such as memory, nature, transformation and resistance, with the voice often serving as the central force carrying personal and shared stories. She studied classical guitar at Tehran Art University, jazz vocals at the Conservatorio Giuseppe Verdi in Milan, and jazz vocals and composition at the Prince Claus Conservatoire in Groningen. Her work has been presented at venues and festivals including Oerol, Gaudeamus, International Theatre Amsterdam, Into the Great Wide Open, Le Guess Who and Uitmarkt.
Sanam is currently part of the three year development programme Station Noord, in which Explore the North is her main partner, alongside further support from Oranjewoud and NNO.
Roshanak Morrowatian
Roshanak Morrowatian is an Iran-born dancer, performer and choreographer based in the Netherlands. She holds a BA in Dance and an MA in Dance Composition from Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen. She has performed in works by Marina Abramović, Pina Bausch, Isabelle Beernaert, Joost Vrouenraets, Alexis Blake and Bodytalk with Yoshiko Waki. She has appeared as an actress in films by Wiam Al Zabari and Julie Sando, and in Maëlle Poésy’s production Sous d’autres cieux. As a choreographer she created works for The Dutch National Opera, schrit_tmacher Festival, SALLY Dansgezelschap Maastricht and the World Music Concours. In 2020 she received the BNG Bank Dance Award for Polished and the Nederlandse Dansdagen Prize for her solo Kites. Her interdisciplinary work explores identity, borders and belonging, and the experience of a body in diaspora. She is also a guest teacher at the Amsterdam University of the Arts.
Credits
Concept, composition, vocals, cello, synthesizer, self-made percussion, electronics & performance: Sanam Tahmasebi
Dance & choreographic collaboration: Roshanak Morrowatian
Visual art & live camera work: Siavash Naghshbandi
Set design: Femke van Emmerik
Costume design: Puk Lindeman
Coach and artistic sounding board: Renée Copraij
Composition advice: Radek Fedyk
Set design advice: Ascon de Nijs
Artistic advice: Suzy Blok, Elien van den Hoek, Nilay Ceber, Melvin Simons
Co-produced by Explore the North
Developed within the Station Noord maker programme
With special thanks to Oranjewoud Festival, Noord Nederlands Orkest, Club Guy & Roni, Grand Theatre Groningen and Hossein Tavazoni Zadeh.
