Get in Your Theatres; the Street is Not Yours»: The Struggle for the Character of Public Space in Tunisia

How people move and appear in public spaces is a reflection of the cultural, religious and socio-political forces in a society. This article, built on an earlier work titled ’Site-Specific Dance: Women in the Middle East’ (2016), addresses the ways in which dance in a public space can support the principles of freedom of expression and gender equality in Tunisia. I explore the character of public space before, during, and after the Arab Spring uprisings. Adopting an ethnographic and phenomenological approach, I focus on the efforts of two Tunisian dancers – Bahri Ben Yahmed (a dancer, choreographer and filmmaker based in Tunis, who has trained in ballet, modern dance and hip hop) and Ahmed Guerfel (a dancer based in Gabès, who has trained in hip hop) – to examine movement in a public space to address political issues facing the society.

人们于公共空间中的移动与呈现，映射出社会中的文化、宗教及社会政治力量。本文基于2016年发表的《场地特定舞蹈：中东女性》一文，探讨在突尼斯公共空间中舞蹈如何支持表达自由与性别平等的原则。本研究深入剖析了阿拉伯之春起义前后公共空间的特性，采纳民族志与现象学的研究方法，聚焦于两位突尼斯舞者——巴里·本·亚赫麦德（一位在突尼斯的舞者、编舞家和电影制作人，曾接受过芭蕾、现代舞及街舞训练）和阿赫迈德·古尔费尔（一位在加贝斯的舞者，曾接受过街舞训练）——为审视公共空间中的舞蹈动作，以应对社会所面临的政治问题所付出的努力。