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Shōnen / Eric Minh Cuong Castaing
Shōnen, basée à Marseille, est née en 2007 sous l’impulsion d’Eric Minh Cuong Castaing, chorégraphe et artiste visuel. Ce dernier est aujourd’hui Artiste associé à Montpellier Danse et, avec sa compagnie, au Centre national de la création adaptée - CNCA de Morlaix, à Bourges Capitale Européenne de la culture 2028, et en compagnonnage avec la Comédie de Genève et la Collection Lambert à Avignon. En tant que directeur artistique, Eric Minh Cuong Castaing porte des projets “in socius”, qui visent à inscrire le processus artistique au sein de réalités sociétales, établissant des liens concrets entre le monde de l’art et des institutions spécialisées (Institut médico-éducatif, hôpitaux, ONG, laboratoires de recherche, écoles…) Il explore, avec ses collaborateurices, la question des corps dans leurs diversités, les implications de leurs collaborations dansées pour un alter-spectaculaire qui questionne nos représentations, en associant des interprètes dont certain·es sont en situation de handicap ou empêchés. La compagnie Shōnen a porté une quinzaine d’oeuvres - spectacles ou performances, films, installations -, dont certaines sont co-signées avec la dramaturge Marine Relinger (Phoenix, 2018), Marine Relinger et Aloun Marchal (L’âge d’or - 2018, Forme(s) de vie - 2021, Parc - 2022, Vision - 2026) ou la metteuse en scène Anne-Sophie Turion (HIKU - 2023). La compagnie Shonen est conventionnée par la DRAC Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur et soutenue au fonctionnement par la Ville de Marseille.
#gofundme : emergency fundraising > link here
Mumen Khalifa is the lead dancer in the choreographic piece Phoenix, created in 2018 by the French company Shonen in association with artists in Gaza. Mumen is our collaborator and very dear friend.
On March 24, Mumen was seriously injured by gunfire while helping patients and healthcare teams to evacuate the Al Amal hospital targeted by the armed forces (as an employee of the Palestine Red Crescent Society). Mumen underwent an emergency operation in Gaza which has already saved his life. But multiple bullet fragments are still moving through his body, weakened by months of war, threatening his vital organs and keeping him at risk of serious complications. Before the 2007 Gaza blockade, Mumen was a professional dabkeh dancer, and toured the world. Since then, he has been a very loved dance and arts teacher for many children suffering from post-traumatic disorders or disabilities in Gaza. Mumen wanted to discover the diversity of contemporary dances, to collaborate with other Gaza and international artists, and discover the therapeutic dimension of art. He wanted to do it from Gaza, where the emergency has long been declared and the need is very high.
Today, Mumen is suffering, and he must be treated outside Gaza. He categorically refuses to leave without his wife and two young children. Because leaving Gaza without them means the risk of never seeing them again. For Mumen to be able to leave Gaza to have surgery without being separated from his family, we need to raise the amount required for a family to pass, i.e. two adults and two children. Numerous press articles are available on the Internet which retrace these exit routes, consisting of charging exorbitant prices to Gazans to cross – legally – the border.
With the greatest seriousness in the face of the indecency of the situation, due to our friend's life-threatening injuries, we are launching the fundraiser for Mumen, a dancer and art-teacher from Gaza. Any contribution above the requested amount will go to the families of the other gazans collaborators of the Phoenix play, all in situations of deprivation and extreme risk.
Eric Minh Cuong Castaing (artistic director) & Marine Relinger (dramaturge)