Nacera Belaza
L’Envol
© L’Envol, Nacera Belaza © Laurent Philippe ©
© L’Envol, Nacera Belaza © Laurent Philippe ©
Choreography, sound design and lights, Nacera Belaza
Featuring Paulin Banc, Nacera Belaza, Aurélie Berland, Mohammed Ech Charquaouy
General director, Christophe Renaud
Produced by Compagnie Nacera Belaza
Co-produced by Festival Montpellier Danse; MC93 – Maison de la Culture de Seine-Saint-Denis (Bobigny); deSingel – International arts campus (Antwerp); Points communs, Nouvelle scène nationale de
Cergy-Pontoise et du Val d’Oise; Theater Freiburg; Centre Chorégraphique National – Ballet de Lorraine (Nancy), which provided studio space; CCN2 – Centre chorégraphique national de Grenoble;Centre National de Danse Contemporaine – Angers, which provided studio space; Festival d’Automne à Paris
With support from King’s Fountain; Fonds Transfabrik – the French-German fund for live performance; Villa Albertine; Région Île-de-France as part of its creative support scheme; Ministry of Culture, Drac Île-de-France as part of the theater subsidy scheme [compagnie conventionnée]
Co-directed by MC93 – Maison de la Culture de Seine-Saint-Denis (Bobigny); Festival d’Automne à Paris
Nacera Belaza probes deep into the liminal space revealed by emptiness. The choreographer sets out to engender states of conscience and body in which the individual might falter, succumb, and embrace the inevitable. For the last thirty years, the artist has been unceasing in her efforts to invite performers and audiences to experience a fascinating dance of the existence, on the frontier between darkness and light.
At the start of each new piece, there is always an unrevealed image. This interior landscape enables the choreographer to create a matter which she then hollows out in order to allow the contours of this “unexpected emptiness which meets all our expectations” to appear. Onstage, in the company of other performers, Nacera Belaza looks for the paths which will lead each of us to the abandonment of our fears and resistances, and to the renunciation of the body and all forms of knowledge. This is the path that leads to the acceptation of failure as a liberating force. Proceeding via a process of subtraction, she creates sparse, pared down works for which she composes the choreographic, sound and lighting scores. Similar to tuning an instrument, the artist harmonises those who are dancing and those are watching so that they run on the same frequency, the perceptible and the imperceptible. Following on from L’Onde, presented at the Festival d’Automne à Paris in 2020, with this new piece Nacera Belaza places herself at the exact same place where her research has always brought her, in which the unmasterable brings forth the unexpected, a possible other.
See also
Nacera Belaza La Nuée
With a reputation for minimalist and captivating choreographies, Nacera Belaza continues the exploration of the circle and rhythm she initiated with Le Cercle (2019) and L'Onde (2021), both landmarks in her choreographic language. Following on from an initial period of creation in Brussels in May 2024, the choreographer then enlarged the creative process of La Nuée by inviting ten new performers to the stage.
Nacera Belaza Sur le fil
Sur le fil is an attempt to escape from oneself, via an infinite acceptation and a going beyond of the frontiers of the body. The choreographer Nacera Belaza preceeds her emblematic piece with a reduction, for children from the Bobigny neighbourhood and Paris. From adult to child, professional to amateur, what do we see in this gesture?
In the same place
Soa Ratsifandrihana Fampitaha, fampita, fampitàna
Committing moving bodies to a contemporary form of orality, Soa Ratsifandrihana, the guitarist Joël Rabesolo and performers Audrey Mérilus and Stanley Ollivier draw on their diasporic narratives and origins to tell a story they would have liked to hear or see. The three Malagasy words Fampitaha, fampita, fampitàna, meaning comparison, transmission and rivalry, form variations in which the performers slide in and out of different states and seem to follow a movement in perpetual metamorphosis.
Jeanne Balibar Les Historiennes
Three women return from the past thanks to three female contemporary historians who bring them back to life via three separate accounts. Here, the actress Jeanne Balibar uses them as the basis for a staged reading. Four women from today’s world take a particularly eloquent and incisive look at three emblematic female destinies.
Nacera Belaza La Nuée
With a reputation for minimalist and captivating choreographies, Nacera Belaza continues the exploration of the circle and rhythm she initiated with Le Cercle (2019) and L'Onde (2021), both landmarks in her choreographic language. Following on from an initial period of creation in Brussels in May 2024, the choreographer then enlarged the creative process of La Nuée by inviting ten new performers to the stage.
Stefan Kaegi (Rimini Protokoll) This is not an embassy (Made in Taiwan)
Rimini Protokoll's roving director Stefan Kaegi takes us, in the company of three native performers and residents, to the island of Taiwan. The fictional element of this show, in which the onstage action filmed live takes us through the twists and turns of a miniature décor, points to a somewhat grotesque geopolitical reality.
Rosana Cade, Ivor MacAskill The Making of Pinocchio
Drawing upon Collodi's tale, the Cade-MacAskill duo uses theatre to investigate the little- explored realms of queer love and affection. In doing so, they tell the story of gender transition and its repercussions on the couple. The piece itself, The Making of Pinocchio, becomes a burlesque-inspired manifesto for different forms currently under construction.
Joël Pommerat Marius
Inspired by the work of Marcel Pagnol, this show explores the theme of escape. Some of the actors had their first experience of theatre at the Maison centrale d'Arles prison. Marius provides audiences with a unique opportunity to discover a little-known but crucial dimension of Joël Pommerat's art.