Emergentia 2026: "Coming Soon" by Soraya Leila Emery

Description

Coming Soon revisits Ingres' painting La Grande Odalisque to humorously subvert the orientalist gaze that has shaped this iconic image. On stage, a multifaceted character shifts from role to role and from painting to painting: mischievous, cheeky, mastering pleasure as an art. Through the grotesque and exaggeration, familiar images are distorted and multiplied, paving the way for new narratives. Soraya Leila Emery is a Swiss-Moroccan choreographer and dancer based in Zurich. She graduated in contemporary dance from CFPArts in Geneva in 2014 and then from SEAD Salzburg in 2017, obtaining her Master's in choreography from ZHdK in Zurich in June 2024. Her work revolves around female pleasure. With a feminist perspective, she questions representations of the Arab female body, the transmission of cultural identity, and more recently, the legacy and orientalist imaginaries. Since 2023, she has been developing a choreographic trilogy composed of TURN ON, Coming Soon, and Kan Ya Makan, exploring the relationships between pleasure, desire, and gaze, particularly focusing on orientalist imaginaries. Created as part of her association with TanzPlan Ost (2023/2024), TURN ON is selected for the Swiss Selection at the Festival d'Avignon 2025 and then for Aerowaves 2026. An associated artist at Tanzhaus Zürich from 2025 to 2028, she creates Coming Soon there and is currently developing the final part of the trilogy, Kan Ya Makan, with its premiere scheduled for 2028.

Highlights

• Premiering 'Coming Soon' by Soraya Leila Emery
• Part of the Emergentia 2026 program
• Explores themes of female pleasure and orientalist imagery

General Information

'Coming Soon' is a performance that humorously subverts the orientalist gaze through a reinterpretation of Ingres' painting La Grande Odalisque. Choreographed by Swiss-Moroccan artist Soraya Leila Emery, this work is part of a trilogy examining pleasure, desire, and cultural identity, and will be presented at L'Abri in Geneva.

Location

Place de la Madeleine 1, 1204 Genf, Switzerland

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