Performers Said Mouhssine (Company Zid) and Brahim Ech-Chibi present Zarbia.

Translated as ‘carpet’ in Darija, the Moroccan dialect, Zarbia  reimagines the carpet as a carrier of culture, layered with story, rhythm and symbolism. From rooftops to alleyways, palaces to homes, Company Zid explore its physical and emotional weight through their signature movement language rooted in parkour, acrobatics and street performance.

The one we sleep on, eat on, talk on, pray on, and decorate with. The one that is sold, slowly hand-woven and found in homes all around the world – from luxurious palaces to the most modern houses.

The heavy carpet that women wash on rooftops, the one rolled up and carried on backs through the narrow alleys of the medina. The carpet seen in the streets, handing from windows on rooftops, in the countryside, during celebrations, weddings, fantasias, harvets, even on the backs of donkeys…

But who is behind these artisans, these merchants, these workers? Those who struggle to pass on their know-how to the younger generations, who find it hard to make a living from their craft, who worry about the future of their trade?

See the video for footage from a work-in-progress informal sharing of Zarbia from August, 2025 at Portsmouth’s Treadgolds venue. The artists developed this during a week-long residency in Portsmouth between UK tour dates in Luton and London.