Mehdi Razi – Y llyn برکه (February)
For February’s Ysbrydoli/Inspire, creative producer, storyteller and contemporary dance artist, Mehdi Razi will be sharing his new project in development. Y llyn برکه is a storytelling dance piece that celebrates folk culture and lullabies from Wales and Lorestan of Iran. He’s also sharing the film of Y llyn برکه and would welcome feedback and comments on his latest work.
What is the project you are working on?
The project that I have recently been working on in Y llyn برکه . This is a piece of storytelling in celebration of folk culture in Wales and Lorestan of Iran. The piece is about lullabies from these two geographically remote places. This is a piece of contemporary dance accompanied by a Welsh lullaby and a Persian lullaby. In another word, I meet lullabies from Wales and Iran through this contemporary dance piece. The initial core idea is much simpler. It is me, a self-expression of myself. My storytelling artistic practice is stemmed from my Persian cultural heritage and my excitement for Welsh culture as the place were I live and feel connected with. This project is enriched by abundance of research on traditional Welsh and Persian lullabies and I am really hoping that the audience who are interested in cultural performances find it positively.
How can people get involved?
This storytelling piece is a way of communication for me. I would love to talk to celebrate the culture that I find in Wales and to bring my artistic offering to this culture. I would love those who might be interested in cultural work to access and see the work and find if my artistic offering of a culturally diverse piece would be something they relate to. The work can be accessed at
https://youtu.be/lvrCQwLnt9Q
This work is being produced in the form of a video for the audience to watch. One aspect that I as a performer miss through digital streaming of works is to see the audience and to feel how they react and to get feedback from the audience. It will be very important in my further works if any other person can leave me a feedback through the comments in the feedback link in the YouTube description below the video. The audience feedback will really help me in producing further works. Also if the topic is of interest to you and you want to get in touch feel more than welcome to contact me.
Tell us a little bit more about you?
I am a creative producer, storyteller and contemporary dance artist, working in performing arts since 2018. I am interested in works around culture and celebrating diversity through my arts. I am from Iran and working with communities in Wales and making connection to the culture of the people is very appealing to me. My artistic expression comes from self-expression and telling my personal story coming from Iran and being welcome in Wales. I am interested in cultural diversity and celebrating beauty of Welsh culture, as my host environment, and Persian culture, where my roots are.
Watch has been your lockdown watch online? Anything you have seen you think others should be watching?
My lockdown watch is performance of “Zero Degrees” by Akram Khan company which highlighted to me excitement of bringing value and offering of my own experience and culture to the story. Also bringing together different theatrical elements to the story was very interesting and inspiring.