Performance artist and choreographer Tarek Halaby has entered into a phase of generating new material. Working without the aim to produce a specific piece or performance, he has set up a series titled Performing for the first time which, in essence, is an experiment on how to produce work. Each performance will be a new body of work that is performed in front of an audience for the first time, and will only become a performance once there is an audience to see it.
In a previous solo, An attempt to understand…, he not only spoke about his difficulty in producing the piece, but also acted as if the performance itself was improvised, when in fact it was all set. As Halaby continues to question and look at ‘what it is to make work, how do I make work, why do I make work…’, he continues to search for ways to build an identity through performance and, in turn, approaches it from an angle where each performance is an improvisation of material that he is busy with. Perhaps a documentary that allows you to peak inside someone.