NAWAYA - Intentions - World Premiere

Something was given to her before she could choose for herself. Nawaya tells of reclaiming one's own voice - between music and dance.

Nawaya, Arabic for "intentions", is a music and dance performance that follows a quiet rupture: between what was intended for her and what she herself has found. For years she followed a predetermined path - until her body began to speak a different language than the one she was given. The piece explores the reclamation of authorship over one's own journey, the distance between an inherited and a self-chosen story. At its centre stands a female artistic position - not as biography, but as unfolding: a negotiation of expectation, origin, and the freedom to set one's own intentions.

The Ramal Ensemble was founded in 2011 in Damascus and combines Arabic maqamat with Western classical and contemporary music. After fleeing the war in Syria, the musicians continued their work in Germany - performing at Rudolstadt and Roskilde festivals as well as at Pierre Boulez Saal and Konzerthaus Berlin. Trained at the Barenboim-Said Academy and in the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, they have been mentored by Daniel Barenboim and Yo-Yo Ma, among others.