Montreal mother-daughter duo tells story through dance performance

A Montreal mother-daughter duo is telling their story through a dance performance.

Dancer and visual artist Mona El Husseini and her mother, Hala Farahat, put on a dance performance at the Montréal, arts interculturels (MAI) on Wednesday.

“The story of my family told through my body and my mother’s body, and I question if the body has the capability to transfer knowledge and experience and stories through generations and through time,” explained El Husseini.

“It’s a meeting between art and science because my mom is a scientist and I’m an artist. So, it’s this merging of these two worlds as well as the world of my mother and I and our differences. But also, where we meet and where we part and all these contrasts and things that bring us together but also bring us apart.”

The contemporary dance performance called Creatrix explores the connections between motherhood and daughterhood as their different worlds come together. The performance also includes abstracting Egyptian Baladi dance.

A series of visual art titled, “Family Portraits” by El Husseini were also on display.

“It was important because art is a big part of my life and so is my family.”

El Husseini completed her dance education at the Cairo Contemporary Dance Center (CCDC) in Egypt and studied International Business and Contemporary Dance at Concordia University. However, her mother does not have a dance background. Instead, Farahat is a science teacher in Montreal and says collaborating with her daughter on this project was a “dream come true.”

“It’s just like at any age you can do whatever you dream of because this was my dream since I was a little girl to perform, and I haven’t performed since, and you get your chance at whatever age,” said Farahat.

“I love dance and music and like all forms of art. Sometimes I dance to myself, sometimes we dance together. It’s a normal thing in my country in Egypt that we celebrate everything by dancing.”

Montrealers interested in watching the performance have until December 2nd to check it out.

“The process is really the essence of the work and sharing it with my mom and collaborating on this project,” said El Husseini.