Performance | Mohamed Toukabri: Every-Body-Knows

Rooted in a critique of the institutionalisation of dance traditions and the colonial influences embedded in some contemporary dance forms, Brussels-based dancer and choreographer Mohamed Toukabri (1990, Tunis) has developed his own distinct language of movement. His performances fuse genres that under traditional hierarchies have been treated separately. In them, subversive practices originating from the streets, such as hip hop and breaking, meet with contemporary and postmodern dance forms associated with classroom training. 

Toukabri investigates the correlations between migration, diasporic identity, visibility and invisibility, as well as shared, intergenerational histories. In doing so, he perceives the body as a vessel of knowledge and memory, whether conscious or not, in which movement becomes a language through which lived experience is expressed and passed on. 

Every-Body-Knows is a spatial adaptation of Toukabri’s solo stage work Every-Body-Knows-What-Tomorrow-Brings-And-We-All-Know-What-Happened-Yesterday (2025), in which he brings these explorations of dance history and the very conditions of movement to centre stage. 

As its title suggests, the work draws on what we and our bodies carry from the past and how this not only shapes our present, but also our future: who is allowed to move, in what way, why and where to? Here, dance transforms into both a site of inquiry and a form of resistance. Toukabri’schoreography is accompanied by the words of Tunisian artist and activist Essia Jaïbi, known for her practice in direction, dramaturgy and production. 

The artist invites you into a space where movement becomes memory, and memory becomes a rehearsal for what is still to come.  

Curated by Léon Kruijswijk, assisted by Nicole Wittmann 

Concept, choreography and performance: Mohamed Toukabri 
Text and voice: Essia Jaïbi 
Sound creation: Annalena Fröhlich 
Graphic design and animation: Alyson Sillon 
Scenography, lighting design and stage management: Matthieu Vergez 
Costume: Magali Grégoir 

Biography:  

Mohamed Toukabri (1990, Tunis) has presented performances internationally including at Festival d’Avignon (2025); HAU, Berlin (2025); Théâtre Les Tanneurs, Brussels; Usine à Gaz, Nyon; Sadler’s Wells, London; Théâtre de la Bastille, Paris (2024); The Lowry, Salford; StaatstheaterHannover; Künstler*innenhaus Mousonturm, Frankfurt (2023); Tanzquartier Wien, Vienna; STUK, Leuven (2022); CC De Factorij, Zaventem (2020); Southbank Centre, London; KLAP Maison pour la danse, Marseille; and Concertgebouw Brugge (2019). He has also participated in numerous festivals including Ruhrtriennale; Festival d’Avignon; Latitudes Contemporaines, Lille; Les Rencontres à l’Échelle, Marseille (2025); Europalia, Oostende (2024); Shubbak Festival, London (2023); Dream City, Tunis; OpenStreets, Brussels (2022); and Me, Myself & I Festival, Dresden (2018). Mohamed Toukabri lives and works in Brussels.