Yara AL HASBANI
Dancer

Yara received a creation grant in partnership with the Atelier des Artistes en Exil.

What is your artistic background ?
I studied dance at the University of Dramatic Arts in Damascus, I took part in the school's performances and danced in theatrical shows. I started professional life with the SIMA dance company (contemporary dance). Then I left Syria, transited through Turkey where I gave dance lessons to children outside the capital, then I was a free dance auditor at the Mimar-Sinan University of Fine Arts in Istanbul. I arrived in France in February 2015. I worked alone in the form of improvisations. It was very fresh, things began to come out of me, and I tackled personal things, very close to me. I began to build things and discover myself. I moved to Rochefort where I took contemporary dance classes at the Conservatory with elderly people. Thanks to a lady from this group, I enrolled at the Conservatoire de la Rochelle where I studied with people younger than me as part of the Jeune Ballet Atlantique (classical, pilates, contemporary, carte blanche for our own creations). I decided to move to Paris to do a theatre show in which I danced. I discovered the Pierre Claver association where I learned French and did theatre, then the workshop for artists in exile where I made new friends and found work opportunities.

How do you see your profession today ?
This year, I took part in a piece by Thierry Tieû Niang, Vas-Voir Là-Bas Si J'y Suis, with the other dancers of the workshop for artists in exile. I am currently training to become a dance teacher at the National Dance Centre to obtain my state diploma. I have also created my own solo piece, Unstoppable, about the door of exile that closes one world and opens to another. It is a very important piece for me. I play, accompanied by a young Gambian percussionist, Wally Saho.

How do you see yourself in five years ? In 10 years ?
I can't imagine myself in the future. The future has no face for me. I hope to continue to develop my projects and to start teaching children.

This interview was conducted in 2019
Photo credit: Céline Anaya Gautier