The Dowry by Ttamo (Tamara Mamulashvili) and Tamila (Tengo Eminashvili).
‘The Dowry’ is inspired by the passages of Shota Rustaveli’s epic poem ‘The Knight In Panther’s Skin’. The medieval text was the starting point for Ttamo (Tamara Mamulashvili) and Tamila (Tengo Eminashvili) to think about a performative-installation tackling current socio-political issues of Georgia, their country of origin.
A work in progress was presented in Monty, Antwerp, on the 2nd of December.
In the epos, as well as in the real history of Georgia, in 1213, we meet a female monarch called ‘king’, not ‘queen’. This episode, revisited for ‘The Dowry’, shed light on power distribution and women’s political participation today as well as in the past.
In Georgia, before Christianity became the main religion, traces of the existence of forms of love alternative to the heteronormative one existed. This fact inspired Ttamo and Tamila to speculate about a love relationship between the two male characters of the original poem, leading them to bring on stage a choreography portraying deep and delicate feelings between them.
The Dowry wouldn’t have been possible without Ttamo and Tamila’s precious collaborators.
- Concept : Tamila (Tengo Eminashvili)
- Scénario : Tamara (ttamo) Mamulashvili
- Dramaturgie et coaching : Petar Sarjanović
- Costumes : Tamila (Tengo Eminashvili), Karl Joonas Alamaa, Salome Grdzelischvili
- Installation vidéo-sonore : Giorgi Elizbarashvili, Tamara (ttamo) Mamulashvili
- Composition d’un paysage sonore : Henry Keller
- Performance : Zuka Mikaia & Erekle Abashmadze (live), Gvantsa Chivadze (video)
- Production: Globe Aroma
Thanks Monty & Europalia for the presentation framework.