Accessibility Week takes place from 5 to 11 October, an initiative of Ieder(in), the national network for people with a disability or chronic illness. This week focuses on the question of how society can become more accessible – physically, digitally and socially. ZID Theatre is joining in with the national tour of *Fade Out* (Powered by ZID), a poignant dance performance by dancer and choreographer Issam Zemmouri, who lives with a hereditary eye condition and has approximately 4% of vision remaining. In *Fade Out*, which premiered during the ExploreZ Festival earlier this year, he makes his changing way of perceiving the world not only the subject of the performance, but also its artistic starting point. The performance invites visitors with and without visual impairments to temporarily experience the world from a different perspective.
Before the tour gets underway during Accessibility Week, Fade Out On 1 October, it will be shown exclusively at the ZID Theatre in Amsterdam, as part of the ExploreZ Comeback.
Fade Out – Issam Zemmouri (Powered by ZID)
Experience an explosive dance performance that appeals to all your senses
What if you don't see art, but feel it? What if darkness is another way of seeing?
Through contemporary dance, physical theatre and a powerful visual language, Issam Zemmouri takes the audience on a journey through his personal story of gradually losing his sight. A journey from light to darkness, in which dance becomes a different way of communicating. The performance moves, challenges and connects, offering both people with and without visual impairments the chance to experience each other’s perspectives.
Credits
Concept, dance and choreography: Issam Zemmouri | Lighting design: Zaher Hamzat | Sound and music design: Jera Topolovec | Artistic and Inclusion Adviser: Irene from Zeeland | Coaching and artistic coordination: Sebo Baker | Photography: Greg Litwin
A poignant, personal journey
Fade Out is an intense sensory journey exploring resilience, loss, letting go, and rediscovering strength when sight is no longer a given.
“Every time I take something out of the light and hold it in my hands, I carry it into the darkness.”
— Issam Zemmouri
Issam has a hereditary eye condition which means he has approximately 4% of vision left. In Countdown (2025) he explored this changing world of experience from an artistic perspective, which served as a prelude to Fade Out . With a remarkable sense of space, he moves across the stage with an unexpected physical freedom.
PERFORMANCE DATES
- 1 October | ZID Theatre, Amsterdam
- 6 October | Theater de Kampanje, Den Helder
- 7 October | Parktheater Eindhoven, Building P, Main Auditorium
- 9 October | Tilburg Theatre & Concert Hall, Studio Theatre
- 10 October | Podium Mozaïek, Amsterdam
Fade Out was made possible with financial support from the Vaillant Fund, the VSB Fund, the Fund for Cultural Participation and Fund 21.
About Issam Zemmouri
Issam Zemmouri (born 1994 in Morocco) is a dancer, choreographer and performer with his own distinctive artistic style, which he body poetry describes as: translating poetry and storytelling into physical movement. Since 2019, he has been part of the artistic team at ZID Theater, where he has performed in various group productions. His solo debut HISTORY premiered at the Amsterdam Fringe Festival (2021) and subsequently toured both at home and abroad. In 2026, he worked with renowned choreographers on the Introdans and Holland Dance Festival co-production: HubClub’26.
de Volkskrant ★★★★☆ ‘Issam Zemmouri, a dancer with 4 per cent vision, has an enviably precise touch.’.
NRC In an earlier interview, Issam talks about his changing reality and his desire to let the audience feel what it is like to experience the world through senses other than sight. “A social and sensory experience that is constantly changing, because his life is too.”
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