March 2026: Compagnie Basinga was due to join Collectif Kahraba in Lebanon to begin developing a performance that was to premiere in Beirut this summer, before touring France in the fall. Their intention was to forge connections and create moments of shared experience—to tell a story in which the possibility of a shared humanity could still be imagined, bringing together professional artists, community participants, children, neighborhood residents, and refugees.

As we write these words, 35 villages in southern Lebanon have been razed to the ground, one million people have been displaced, and Lebanon has lost 20% of its territory.

What can poetry do in the face of barbarity? Perhaps it can summon what is best in each of us.

In response to barbarity, Basinga and Collectif Kahraba choose vulnerability. They invite you to experience a creation woven from encounters, mythological figures, rituals of consolation, tender worlds held in delicate balance, and the branches of uprooted trees.

Together, they share their outrage, walk the tightrope, search for balance in order to remain standing, embrace their own fragility, and affirm that poetry matters—everywhere—and that it is a tightrope stretched out toward you.