Homeland: A Multidisciplinary Experience

Homeland is just what it purports to be, a multi-disciplinary examination of the meaning of home. It is both more and less than a dance piece, more and less than a documentary film, and most of the time this is to its benefit.  

It is theme and variation, point and counterpoint. The glimpses the film parts give us into peoples lives are tantalizing, raising as many questions as they answer, and Yaraghi’s dance manages to express much of the immigrant experience, at times dark and threatened, others a joyful exploration of a new world. She is a beautiful performer, capable of a wide range of expression, dedicated and precise, and her “mask” and “day in the life” sequences are especially interesting.

The work can be challenging, it is not structured as a typical theatrical piece but then that is Setareh Delzendeh’s mission, to bend and explore ways of telling stories.

My biggest complaint is the piece is unfortunately often Toronto-centric. (There is nothing wrong with Toronto, but it is not the whole Canadian experience and at times it seems to be standing in for it.)

Don’t go tired, or simply to be entertained, but if you’d like to think a bit, and see some dance, this has its rewards.

CREDITS

HOMELAND (Godot Art Productions)
Written, Designed and Directed by Setareh Delzendeh
Performed by Bahareh Yaraghi (Movement), Reza Moghaddas (Keys, Strings, composition & Sound Design), and Lorenzo Castelli (Percussion), (Film edited by Delzendeh & Moghaddas).