PHOTO: © Jana Bauch, Fadi Elias, Marius Merkel

DeColonia LAB #1: Exploring rituals of belonging through movement, voice and community

Name: DeColonia LAB #1: Exploring rituals of belonging through movement, voice and community
Start: 2026-06-27T17:00+0200
End: 2026-06-28T06:00+0200
Location: maarket Café

Today, 27. Jun 2026

17:00

maarket Café

Köln

€ Free admission

Buy tickets

In the organizer's words:

The program is divided into two sessions, which you can register for individually or together. Participation is based on the “Pay What You Can” principle. Everyone is welcome to join the community hangout starting at 7:30 p.m.—even if you didn’t participate in the sessions. Free admission is available, and donations are welcome.

At our first DeColonia LAB of the year, the focus is on rituals: How do they shape our sense of belonging? How do they change when we take them out of their context? How can they have an impact beyond that context? Artists from various disciplines invite you to explore and create rituals together—through movement, voice, and community.

Session I – Connecting through sound and voice (5:00 – 6:00 p.m.)

In an interactive sound session, we’ll explore the ritual and historical power of sound, silence, and our own voices together with multi-instrumentalist and sound designer Senthuran. The session is open to everyone and requires no prior experience.

Session II – Yalladabka! Ritual through movement (7:00 PM – 8:30 PM)

Yalladabka invites us to learn the Dabke dance—a vibrant tradition from Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan that has been passed down for centuries, from generation to generation, from village to village, and from person to person. People hold hands and stomp on the ground. We’ll learn the basics and techniques of Dabke and explore how simple movements foster a sense of community. No prior experience necessary.

Community Hangout – Food, drinks, and music (8:30 PM – 10:30 PM)

Everyone is warmly welcome to join us to round out the evening—even if you didn’t participate in the sessions. Look forward to delicious food from maarket, connecting conversations, and musical accompaniment by Azlay with sounds and beats from around the world.

📍 maarket Café, Maarweg 165, 50825 Cologne-Ehrenfeld

About DeColonia

The interdisciplinary event series DeColonia invites post-migrant communities and artists to bring their perspectives together. Over the course of three events, experimental spaces—labs—will be created as platforms for co-creative, artistic, and social engagement with issues of migration, coloniality, and belonging.

The guiding principle is “locally rooted—globally inspired”: drawing on Cologne’s diverse post-migrant communities, artistic positions are developed that incorporate international perspectives. A multi-day festival in December 2026 will bring together the experiences and results and invite participants to help shape them.

🌐 decolonia.org

Supported by the City of Cologne’s Department of Cultural Affairs

This content has been machine translated.

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