Artist Bio

Iraqi Bodies

Crying of My Mother (2007, U.S. Premiere. U.S. Debut)
Presented by SFIAF, Dance Elixir and Nina Haft & Company

Iraqi Bodies will make their US debut as part of SFIAF with Crying of My Mother, a metaphor for the religious conflict in Iraq. Three men living in the same house start, with time, to disagree and resist each other. Greed, malignance, violence and killing become their only language. (Stark and effectively lit, each gesture of a hand or flex of a naked foot told of the pain……this was war poetry at its finest……uniquely memorable. Dance Europe, February 2008).

The company’s artistic director, Muhanad Rasheed is fast becoming a dance phenomenon in the Netherlands, where the artists currently reside. He is the recipient of the prestigious 2010 Dance Days Choreographer Award (past recipients include Jiří Kylián) and also the Swan Award for Best Production in Holland 2010 for his work Mourning with the Netherlands Internationaal Danstheater.

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Muhanad Rasheed Choreographer, Composer, Performer
Muhanad Rasheed recently won the 2010 Dutch Dance Days Promising Choreographer award, granted to one artist each year in Holland. His recent work, Mourning, commissioned by Internationaal Danstheater Netherlands (IDT), also received the Swan Award for Best Dance Production in Holland 2010.

Mr. Rasheed currently lives in the Netherlands, where in 2008 he was offered political asylum. Born in Baghdad, he studied theatre at the Institute of Fine Arts in Baghdad. His company, Iraqi Bodies, won the Jury Prize at the 2007 Theatre Festival in Jordan. Their first production, Crying of My Mother, had its European premiere in the 2007 Dancing on the Edge Festival (NL), followed by tours throughout Europe and the Middle East. In 2008, Mr. Rasheed was interviewed by Deborah Amos for a feature on NPR’s "All Things Considered" radio broadcast.

Majed Rasheed Performer (Bass Guitar)
Majed Rasheed was born in Baghdad in 1976, and has worked as an actor, film producer, technician and musician (bass guitar). Majed studied theatre in Baghdad, where he earned his diploma in 1998. He worked in several theatre performances as an actor, and also produced the film Underexposure (2005) in Baghdad, which was the first Iraqi film after the war in 2003.

He is a member of the dance company Iraqi bodies, where he works as the company technician. Majed is a member of the band Lazy Sleepers, which he started with a group of Iraqi musicians living in Holland. In 2010, Lazy Sleepers recorded two dance performances soundtracks (Obsession and the dream is a broken mirrors) for Muhanad Rasheed’s choreography.

Zaid Hassen Performer (Guitar)
Zaid Hassen was born in 1988 in Baghdad, Iraq. He is a musician, and a member of the Lazy Sleepers--an Iraqi band based in the Netherlands. They have been making music together since 2009.

Zaid and the Lazy Sleepers have composed scores for two dance performances of Iraqis Bodies. His current projects include scores for dance performances in 2011: THIEVES (with Rasheed and choreographer Leyya Tawil) and Forrest. Zaid Hassen studies the Dutch Language and will begin a degree program in September 2011 at Hogeschool van Kunst, a college in Amsterdam.

Mustafa Essami Performer (Percussion)
Zaid Hassen was born in 1988 in Baghdad, Iraq. He is a musician, and a member of the Lazy Sleepers--an Iraqi band based in the Netherlands. They have been making music together since 2009.

Mustafa Essami was born in 1987 in Baghdad, Iraq. He studied and worked as a technical designer for theatre and film from 2001-2007. He is currently living in Holland and pursuing a career in music. Mustafa is the percussionist for the band Lazy Sleepers. Mustafa studied the Dutch language for two years in Amsterdam, and will join the college Hogeschool in the Netherlands to study Product Design in Fall 2011.