Shaaray Sharif: With You.

by Shaaray Sharif
with Emily Rae (performer, deviser, composer)

There once were two things

Forced to share a space, a space that held them, a space that trapped them.

The two were bound.

There were ties between them, ones that could not be severed.

An unwanted symbiosis.

Their tensions expanded into the rest of their world, no matter how hard they tried to co-exist.

The feeling of not wanting.

Not wanting what is forced to be with them.

It’s with us.

Your ribs restrict your lungs from completing a breath.

The corners become dull and dark,

Uninviting.

It becomes cramped.

Hard to see otherness.

Their symbiosis is all that’s left.

This is the cause of something with a parasitic nature.

‘With You.’ is a performance that explores how trauma may affect the mind and body, using projected text, movement and soundscape.

We invite you to observe the journey,

With us.

Shaaray Sharif (she/her) is a Pakistani/Scottish artist and performance maker who creates work exploring the oppressive nature of society. She creates autobiographical material, which furthers her connection to the work. Shaaray primarily combines soundscape/composition, movement and choreography, and different mediums of text that support the creation of original performances. Residing at the intersection of immersive performance and sonic art, she continues to investigate the use of sound vibration and the physical response it may elicit within the audience, as well as the tension that may arise between the physical and the emotional response.

Emily Rae (she/they) is a Scottish composer and performer whose work is currently based in acousmatic music that explores manipulating personal recordings or online samples and using them to recontextulise material. Their prior classical and jazz background provides a unique blend of contemporary harmonic language. In addition, their current interest in the connection between embodied movement and music informs how they envision shapes inside their pieces.

Image by Lucas Chih-Peng Kao.

Access note

Projected text. Wheelchair accessible.

Content note

Contains abrasive loud sounds, possible anxiety inducing sound, vibrations caused by low frequencies.