Two-channel video installation, 2023
Duration: 10 min 12 sec, looping
Format: Colour, stereo sound, 16:9
Physical dimensions: Variable
Exhibited at Maison de la Culture du Plateau-Mont-Royal, Montreal, March 2024
Dancing the Resistance documents Iranian performance artist Elahe Moonesi reflecting from exile in Montreal on two decades of contemporary dance practice in Iran. The two-channel installation creates a temporal dialogue: one channel shows Moonesi beside a monitor displaying her archived performances from Iran; the other captures her in real time. Both channels are projected onto perpendicular walls, with audio deliberately shifting between them—initially synchronized to one side, then gradually migrating to the other, creating the illusion of Moonesi in conversation with herself across time. The work amplifies one artist’s lived experience to illuminate the collective struggle of Iranian women dancers navigating state censorship and control over their bodies.