Bilal El Had
Ch’ttahh
- 20.11 — 22.11 2026
- Performances
- portuguese premiere
- Centro Cultural de Belém - Black Box
- 13€ (See discounts)
- ages 6+
- 45 min
A choreography where contemporary movement meets with century-old histories of masculinity and gender expression.
In Ch’ttahh (“dancer”), Bilal El Had returns to the first dance form he ever encountered: Moroccan Chaabi, a popular style of music and dance performed at weddings, street celebrations, and gatherings at home.
Ch’ttahh combines his personal experience of dance with the rhythms, songs, and ancient symbols of Chaabi. It explores social gestures shaped by a long history of men challenging gender norms through dance, poetry, and music.
Between tribute and innovation, humour and conflict, Ch’ttahh captures the energy of the present while looking carefully and attentively at a shared past. Through the powerful expressiveness of Chaabi, it presents dance as a way of crossing or breaking social rules, while preserving cultural memory and imagining possible futures.
Note it down
Post-show talk with Bilal El Had and Piny (in English) on 21 November.
Accessibility
In English and Arabic, with Portuguese and English surtitles.
The venue is accesible for people with reduced mobility.
Credits
Artistic direction & choreography Bilal El Had Performer Bilal El Had Music Producer Reda Senhaji (Cheb Runner) Dramaturgical advisor Daniel Blanga Gubbay Assistant Théo Livesey Sound designer Milan Van Doren Light Designer Ivan Casco Set designer Théo Demans Costume designers Cyril Bourez & Adam Halleux Video editor Nadav Direktor External eye Maud Blandel Production manager Rosine Bey Executive production Moussem Nomadic Arts Centre, Les Halles de Schaerbeek Co-production Charleroi Danse, DE SINGEL, Kaaitheater, Kunstenwerkplaats KWP, Les Brigittines, workspacebrussels, L’Arsenic – Centre d’art scénique contemporain, La Fondation Royaumont – Centre international pour les artistes de la musique et de la danse, La Briqueterie CDCN Val-de-Marne, Le Maillon Théâtre de Strasbourg - Scène européenne, Points Communs Nouvelle scène nationale de Cergy-Pontoise et du Val d'Oise Support Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles, Vlaamse Overheid, Vlaamse Gemeenschapscommissie Residency support Charleroi Danse, DE SINGEL, Kaaitheater, Kunstenwerkplaats KWP, workspacebrussels, Ultima Vez Special thanks Pôle international de production et de diffusion Ailleurs & Ici, Youness Khoukhou
Bilal El Had (1991, he/him) is a Moroccan dancer and performer based in Brussels. A graduate of P.A.R.T.S., he has collaborated as a performer with Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, Salva Sanchis, Radouan Mriziga, Laurent Chétouane, and Maud Blandel, among others. He is currently developing his own choreographic work, focusing on the relationship between music and dance as a space where traditional forms, cultural memory, and collective imagination intersect and transform.