Workshop Self-Uncensored by Mohammad Abbasi [Censor and Secret: The Moving Potential of the Unexpressed]

Workshop: Dance / Performance / Movement-based research
Profile: Directed for dance and performance creators
Dates: January 26–30, 2026 Schedule: 10:00–14:00 Duration: 5 days
Location: O Rumo do Fumo, Lisbon
Language: English
 

*Free of charge / Registration closed

 
About the workshop
Over five days, this workshop explores themes of secrecy, self-censorship, and trauma, using movement as the primary mode of inquiry. Through practices of sensory isolation and the interplay between physical restriction and release, participants are invited to embody layered emotional and psychological states.
 
Rooted in improvisation and experimentation, the workshop creates an environment where the body becomes a site of transformation. It seeks to uncover pathways for using dance and performance as tools for self-discovery, communication, and resistance, engaging the body as both archive and agent of change.

 
Biografy
Mohammad Abbasi (born 1977 in Shiraz/Iran) is an actor, dancer, choreographer, video artist, and festival director whose work explores the intersections of performance, activism, and embodied research.
He studied theatre directing at the University of Tehran, where he also performed in several productions with the Mehr Theatre Group. Abbasi created his first choreographic work, Recall Your Birthday, in 2003 at the Fadjr Festival. From 2008 to 2010, He studied contemporary dance at the Centre National de Danse Contemporaine in Angers, France.
After returning to Iran, he founded the Invisible Centre of Contemporary Dance in Tehran, supporting independent dance in a context where the art form remains largely unofficial. In 2011, he launched the UNTIMELY Solo Dance Festival, which showcased works by emerging Iranian choreographers alongside international productions from Brussels, Berlin, Amsterdam, and Zurich.
Since 2008, Abbasi has also been active as a dance filmmaker. His film I AM MY MOTHER has been screened internationally and has received multiple awards.
As an educator, Abbasi has led more than 150 workshops across Iran and Europe, teaching in cities such as Tehran, Shiraz, Sanandaj, Hashtgerd, Marvdasht, Munich, Leuven, Berlin, Geneva, and Izmir.
His work is often politically charged, addressing cultural restrictions surrounding dance in Iran and using artistic activism to question and challenge systems of authority.
 
*Manifesto on Autonomy by Mohammad Abbasi

https://self-mistake.pt/en/projects/series-of-statements-about-autonomy/
 
 
*Mohammad Abbasi is part of the Self-Uncensored Festival, [UnCoding] edition, which will take place on January 25, 2026, at 4:00 pm, at TBA.
 
https://self-mistake.pt/en/projects/self-uncensored-uncoding/
 
 
*Self-Uncensored is a project that questions contemporary forms of censorship in “democratic” contexts, with a focus on the mechanisms that lead to self-censorship and internalised censorship, through an artistic programme presented over several months.
 
https://self-mistake.pt/en/projects/self_uncensored/
 

Direction and Curatorship: Tânia M. Guerreiro

Production: ORG.I.A (SELF-MISTAKE / SELF-UNCENSORED)

Co-production: Teatro do Bairro Alto

Support: O Rumo do Fumo and Polo Cultural Gaivotas | Boavista

Institutional Support: Lisbon City Council – Culture; Portuguese Republic – Culture, Youth and Sports / Directorate-General for the Arts

 
Contacts for extra info: and 964728435