Savušun

Savušun (“grieving for the death of Siyâvash”) is the name of a pre-Islamic ceremony that commemorates the mourning for this  historical, or legendary, Persian prince. Intensely present on stage, Sorour Darabi lives out the contradictory emotions expressed in it —  suffering, sorrow, fear, violence, but also joy, craziness, delight, release and ecstasy — thus displaying a body which is marked by its  ambivalence. Inspired from Shiite mourning ceremonies, which take place during the month of Muharram, on stage, this ritual becomes a pagan form, in which the relationships of domination are inverted, and the values associated with the expression of feelings are redefined. As an ode to vulnerability and deep feelings, this performance revives the memory of old, collective emotions and brings to mind those men who, through their tears and their rebellion, presented a different vision of their own virility.