AEF2026: Amir Sabra – Ata Khatab: Badke(remix)

This summer, Athens Epidaurus Festival's main city venue, the former industrial complex in Pireos 260,  celebrates 20 years as one of the city’s most vital cultural meeting points. Under the artistic direction of Michail Marmarinos, this year’s landmark programme unfolds across two months of theatre, dance, music, performance, and multidisciplinary works, bringing together more than 50 events by acclaimed international artists alongside some of the most exciting voices from Greece’s contemporary scene. Pireos 260 will live through the Athenian summer as a dynamic space where emerging creators, established names, and curious audiences come together to explore what contemporary performance can be today.

New collaborations, technology-driven works, and immersive experiences sit alongside bold theatrical productions, live music, and cutting-edge choreography. Amongst these cutting-edge choreography pieces is Badke(remix) by Palestinian artists Amir Sabra and Ata Khatab, making its debut appearance in Greece under the festival's "Voices of the Arab World" strand. By deliberately flipping the name of the dabke: a traditional communal folk dance stretching from ancient fertility rituals to modern weddings and resilient street gatherings; the production transforms traditional rhythm into a striking act of resistance.

Accompanied by ten performers, the creators fuse contemporary movement, hip-hop, capoeira, and circus arts into an explosive, high-energy physical showcase that challenges the idea of a monolithic national identity. Driven by the sounds of a West Bank wedding orchestra led by Nasser Al Fares, the performance beautifully contrasts the joy of celebration with haunting real-world audio layers of sirens, drones, and crying children, proving that movement can become a vital declaration of survival and global belonging.