WHEN FORESTS DREAM & ASSEMBLY by Sara Gebran
WHEN FORESTS DREAM
DATE 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 Sept. 19H30 (ASSEMBLY takes place 13 Sept. – info below)
MEETING PLACE Refshalevej 320, Refshaleøen – into the yard, turn left – SEE MAP
WHAT Performance
FREE ENTRY – reservation recommended (booking opens 1 month before the premiere)
A procession for a collective hope, grief and ecological rebirth – by Sara Gebran and collaborating artists
In WHEN FORESTS DREAM, you encounter the wondrous spirits of a forest that has disappeared due to deforestation. Four performers lead a luminous, joyful procession of sound, song, and dance – spreading light in the twilight – to guide you on a sensory voyage of transformation and collective dreaming.
Rooted in Yanomami indigenous cosmology, you are invited to “dream the other,” reimagining a future where humans and nature thrive together. Through movement, song, sound, dream narratives, holographic images and spectacular scenography, the performers summon the spirits of all Beings – human and more-than-human – to evoke new forms of togetherness.
A carnival of hope unfolds. Giving form to the unseen, the performance acts as a spiritual sanctuary – a call to grieve, heal, awaken, and grow our bond with the land, sustained by community.
WHEN FORESTS DREAM is the 4th chapter of the eight-year project The Forests’ Imaginary Trial (2023–2030), proposing the use of the theatre as a “fictional courtroom,” where the audience is invited as a jury in defense of Nature, engaging with questions of responsibility, the “Rights of Nature,” and ecocide.
This year, an ASSEMBLY will be held on the final day 13 Sept., serving as a powerful culmination of the WHEN FORESTS DREAM performance.
Duration: 1h 50min.
Language: English
ASSEMBLY
DATE 13 Sept. 14h00-18h00
MEETING PLACE Teatersalen, William Wains Gade 11, Refshaleøen – SEE MAP
WHAT Performance & Assembly
FREE ENTRY – reservation recommended
Where Art Ignites Ecological Justice
The ASSEMBLY is a half-day gathering situated in-between performing arts, activism, and collective imagination to confront environmental injustice.
Through the Assembly we activate the theatre as a “fictional tribunal”, aiming to practice, perform and gather creative ideas for how to live together with the more-than-human, while sharing the Rights of Nature.
Drawing on performative rituals, discursive dialogue, and soundscapes, the event brings together artists, Indigenous voices, scientists, lawyers, and activists. Through smaller and larger group discussions, shared reflection, and embodied practices, the ASSEMBLY fosters a space for thinking, sensing, and acting together.
To grow our bond with Nature, we will all be gifted seeds during the performance of WHEN FORESTS DREAM to be planted together at the ASSEMBLY. A call to move beyond grief and dream, toward tangible solidarity and systemic change.
Duration: 4 hours
Language: English
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Sara Gebran is a choreographer, dancer, and author who combines performance with video, sound, text, architecture, and environmental law through the dancing body. Her current research and performance series, The Forests’ Imaginary Trial (2023–2030), explores how to defend and protect the world’s forests. Through this, she aims to create a new platform for political and social representation through artistic practices, developed with all interested citizens in defense of nature and its rights. @saragebran
Olivia Rivière is a choreographer and dancer based in Copenhagen. Her work springs from a fascination with extended vocal techniques, noise, and listening. She creates visceral performances that seek to evoke affective and resonant spaces and relations. For 10 years, she has co-run the space Danseatelier in Copenhagen, and she has an MA ‘Exerce’ in Choreography, Montpellier. @oliviariviere
Snorre Elvin is a Copenhagen-based dancer and choreographer, exploring transformation, tactility, queerness, collectivity, and ecology. As a co-founder of Danseatelier, he merges artistic, organizational, and curatorial practices. He holds an MA in choreography and a BA in dance from the Danish National School of Performing Arts. @snorreelvin
Sarah Buchner is a vocalist, composer, and performance artist based in Denmark whose work explores the mutability of the human voice. Through improvisation and composition, she transforms recognizable vocal sounds into shifting sonic landscapes influenced by electronic music and ASMR. Buchner is a member of ILK and Wolfskin Ensemble and the organizer of BåkBåk Festival for Vokal Musik. @sarah._.buchner
Siegmar Zacharias is a performance artist and researcher creating immersive works. She is a certified death doula. She is committed to labour justice and the SocialBody Apothecary’s work with plants as guides and allies towards transformation. @siegmarzacharias
Frida Barfod is a Copenhagen-based textile artist and costume designer who specializes in sculptural garments and exhibition objects with a focus on the body. She graduated from the Royal Danish Theatre, department of hats and flowers, in 2018, and from the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, department of fashion design, in 2015. @fridabarfod
Bendixen & Baruël consists of architect Cecilie Bendixen and textile designer Laura Baruël, who share the passion for spatial, textile, dynamic constructions and processing techniques. Together they have developed a number of innovative spatialities, especially for schools, where the connection to the poetry of outdoor space is in focus. @bendixenxbaruel
Emil Muhammed Wardeh is a lighting designer, director and stage technician. Co-founder of Proletar Teater. Works at the intersection of technical craft and artistic vision across Danish theatres. @emil.wardeh
CREDITS
Concept and choreography: Sara Gebran
Song composer: Sarah Buchner
Text and lyrics: Siegmar Zacharias & Sara Gebran
Performers: Sarah Buchner, Snorre Elvin, Sara Gebran & Olivia Riviere
Light and hologram: Emil Wardeh & Sara Gebran
Costume and Hat: Frida Barfod
Prop designer: Frida Barfold & Sara Gebran
Scenography: Bendixen & Barüel
Artistic consultant and researcher: Margôt Assis
Assembly: Concept by Sara Gebran in collaboration with Siegmar Zacharias & Katarina Hovden
Technical Operator: Emil Wardeh
Creative producer: Carlos Calvo
Produced by: Public Eye
Administration: Kamma Siegumfeldt
Graphic design: Susanne Cleworth
Supported by The Danish Arts Foundation, Wilhelm Hansen Fonden, Knud Højgaards Fond, City of Copenhagen
Co-production and residency: Metropolis – Københavns Internationale Teater and Refshale Anneks
Graphics: Sara Gebran