Ici je lègue ce qui ne m’appartient pas

He trembles, mumbles, straightens up, looks forwards and sometimes backwards. He sheds his heavy heritage while also trying to rejoice in his cultural heritage and accept his melancholy. With his movements, he reacts to echoes of the past while living in the present.

Habib Ben Tanfous reminds us that we are not alone, but surrounded by our memories of yesterday and by imagined tomorrows. With music, dance and words, he asks us: What parts of our heritage do we want to pass on? From son to father and from father to daughter. And how do we follow the cycle of life so that we also find time to breathe, sing and whirl?

With the solo ‘Ici je lègue ce qui ne m’appartient pas’ (Here is my inheritance that is not mine), Brussels choreographer Habib Ben Tanfous explores his own history. Habib inherited his name from his great-grandfather, who was also called Habib, and with this name also its history. Now he is exploring what place these stories should have in his life and whether they are truly his.

Habib Ben Tanfous draws on family photos, childhood memories and current experiences to tell his story using his body as a medium. His choreographic language is delicate and unique. The performance translates the inner contradictions of his dominant heritage into an insightful and deeply moving dance.

“Ici je lègue ce qui ne m’appartien pas” is both a testament-like act and a declaration of love. The ambition to affirm one’s right to be oneself in the world creates a powerful force.

In 2023, the performance was specially selected as one of the 20 best new European dance performances by the dance theatre network Aerowaves, of which Bora Bora is a part.

The performance was developed through an artist residency at Bora Bora Residency Centre.

Brussels-based artist Habib Ben Tanfous is 31 years old. A dancer, choreographer and actor, his career began at a very early age with hip hop. At 15, he spent much of his time dancing and participating in competitions that took him as far as New York.

2019 marked a turning point. Habib Ben Tanfous, who has never stopped dancing, was selected by the talent programme ‘tremplin hip hop #3’ to create Orchestre vide, a piece for six performers that combines hip hop and karaoke. Presented in Mons, Brussels and Liège, the piece was successful due to its hybrid of genres and focus on the complexity of belonging. At the same time, he started the one-year course ‘Dance and Choreographic Practices’ at Charleroi Danse.

Between 2019 and 2022, he continued his work on identity, masculinity, colonial, racial and patriarchal domination through a series of collaborations: He performed in Ether/after by Armel Roussel, Laboratoire Poison by Adeline Rosenstein, Phèdre by Pauline D’Ollone and danced in Débandade by Olivia Grandville. At the same time, he played on the big screen with Harpo Guit and Maximilien Delmelle, the memorable trio in the film Fils de Plouc.

Enriched by these experiences, Habib Ben Tanfous worked on his project “Ici je lègue ce qui ne m’appartient pas”, a solo show that premiered in Brussels in February 2023. Using a wide range of songs and family photos, he studied the postures of his parents, cousins and ancestors. His documentary, choreographic and vocal research was given a new layer when Habib Ben Tanfous became a father in July 2021.

Together with the members of RAVIE, he applied to direct the Théâtre de la Vie in Saint-Josse. They were chosen to lead the theatre from January 2023, the first time a collective has led a theatre in French-speaking Belgium.