Shabaab: Samar Haddad King's Dance Tribute to Male Friendship

Presented as part of the Faits d'hiver festival, *Shabaab* is a dance piece by choreographer Samar Haddad King that explores the tenderness and resilience of male friendship. The title means "youth" in Arabic, and the work deliberately moves away from reductive portrayals centered on strength or confrontation, instead allowing beauty and affection to unfold between two young men.

To give depth to emotions that words often fail to capture, the two performers are doubled by a puppet that expresses feelings the real bodies cannot show. Through this figure, childhood dreams resurface, memories return, and time blurs, revealing an intimate bond that persists even when the individuals appear deprived of it. The piece blends dance, theater, and manipulation to create a space of survival, tenderness, and resistance.

Samar Haddad King was previously known for *Losing it*, created with Samaa Wakim. With *Shabaab*, she continues her exploration of intimate memory, offering a poetic and moving experience at the Théâtre de la Bastille.