Following the selection of the 2 French dancers to complete the team of dancers, the SHAPERS project led its second artistic residency for the creation of a choreographic piece.
This residency was led by Anne Le Batard, Jean Antoine Bigot, Corinne Pontana and Rolando Rochala of the company Ex Nihilo with the 9 dancers taking part in the î project at the Cité des Arts de la Rue, in Marseilles, from January 19th to 30th.
Ex Nihilo [Marseilles, France] is a contemporary dance company, directed by Anne Le Batard and Jean-Antoine Bigot, founded on a common aim: to make public space a favoured space for creation and performance, placing encounters with a particular context and the people using an environment, such as inhabitants, an audience, and passers-by, at the centre of their artistic approach. www.exnihilodanse.fr
Following a series of workshop auditions from April 2016 to January 2017, eight young dancers from Egypt, France, Spain and Morocco participated in this training programme for professional dancers.
The dancer Emma Riba came to join and supplement the team as a substitute dancer in October 2017.
Ahmed Shamel Azmy, Egypt
Born in 1991, in Cairo, Egypt, Ahmed Shamel Azmy became interested in dancing at a very young age, practicing Hip Hop at home, using YouTube and other media to improve his skills. By the age of 21, he was accepted into the Cairo Contemporary Dance Center, where he had the opportunity to work with various choreographers such as Christian Ubl, Arno Schuitmarker and Libertad Pozo. Ahmed is also a member of Swaggers Crew with experience in street dance and Krump.
Throughout the SHAPERS project, Ahmed was intrigued by the concept of movement and how to become a stronger mover rather than a stronger dancer. He uses practices such as ‘animal flow’ as inspiration along with a variety of other physical practices to explore his body and capabilities, a concept he wishes to popularize in Egypt’s dance community.
Shady Abdelahrman, Egypt
Shady Abdelrahman is a young artist, actor, dancer, pantomime artist, and clown. Since 2007 he has acted in many theatrical performances, short films, and television shows. He participated in the 2015-2016 studio ZAT actor preparation workshop with Shady Khalaf and Ahmed Kamal.
With a dance background in ‘popping’, Shady’s relationship with contemporary dance began in Karima Mansour’s workshop in 2011, before joining the Cairo Contemporary Dance Center’s Professional training program (2012-2015). During his studies, he was selected to attend the Henny Jurriens scholarship program in Amsterdam. In addition to working and touring with many choreographers and companies, Shady is working on his own projects as a director and choreographer.
Mourad Koula, Morocco
A dancer and circus artist, specialized in Chinese pole, Mourad Koula was trained at Shems’y National Circus School in Salé, Morocco. He has worked with many directors and choreographers: Sylvie Guillermin, Guillaume Bertrand, Juha Marsalo, Thierry Poquet, Jawad Essounani, Anne Le Batard, Jean Antoine Bigot, and Samuel Tétreault.
His solo Shkoun ana, has been shown many times in Morocco and France. Mourad has performed in: Karacena Festival in Salé (2012 & 2014), Sacred World Music Festival in Fès (2013 & 2014), Fatw’art Festival in Casablanca (2013, 2014 & 2015), Nassim el Raqs in Alexandria (2015), Street art and circus Festival of Agadir (2015), Chalon dans la rue in France (2015), Mes de danza festival in Seville (in 2016), Crolles circus festival in France (2016), and the dance festival On marche in Marrakech (2017). He is currently creating new performances such as Error 404 with the Wajdins cie and Youness Essafy.
Ayoub Kerkal, Morocco
A circus artist and dancer, Ayoub Kerkal began training in the renowned Shems’y National Circus School in Salé, Morocco, in 2011. Since 2012, he returned to this first passion, contemporary dance, working with choreographers such as Mic Guillaumes, Thomas Huert, and the company Ex Nihilo.
In 2013, he became a member of the parkour company Accroche-toi, as a dancer and circus artist. Ayoub has participated in festivals such as the Biennale of Circus Arts in Karacena (2012 & 2015), as well as multiple dance festivals: On Marche in Morocco, Nassim el Raqs in Egypt, and Zvrk Festival in Bosnia Herzegovina.
Lucia Bocanegra, Spain
Lucia Bocanegra was born in Seville in 1997. She started dancing at the Endanza space in Seville in 2000. Before entering the Professional Dance Conservatory, she also took classes at the Performing Arts Center of Seville. Lucia chose to specialize in contemporary dance in 2015, and was selected by the CAD (Andalusian Dance Center) to train. In addition, she has participated in the creation of various short pieces, such as Seenpro (2015), Soulviewer, the conservatory’s 2015 end of the year piece, and the trio Nudas (2016). Lucia also performed the solo Gnosis, for the CAD 2015 tour and Salafuera within the cultural collaboration of the 2016 Noche en Blanco in Seville. From 2016 to 2018, she joined the team of the Euro-Mediterranean Project SHAPERS with the company Ex Nihilo.
Elvira Balboa, Spain
Elvira Balboa finished her professional dance studies in 2017 at the Royal Contemporary Dance School Reina Sofia. She is currently a part of the Euro-Mediterranean project SHAPERS, directed by the French Company Ex Nihilo. She is continuing her graduate studies in dance at the Theater Institute of Barcelona.
Elvi is a dancer and choreographer in the company Land Lab Project and CIA la Coet. In 2015 she participated in the project Let’s Dance directed by Trinidad Castillo, a student of Pina Bausch. From 2012 to 2016 she created and organized the project Danzamatique(micro, macro, perfodanza) in Granada.
Natacha Kierbel, France
Natacha Kierbel was born in Paris in 1995. She trained at the Conservatoire Régional de Paris. In addition, she studied Literature and Theatre at Sorbonne Nouvelle University and trained at the International Acting School of Paris. In 2014, Natacha joined the Geneva Junior Ballet, where she danced the repertoire from Aleksander Ekman, Hofesh Shechter, Roy Assaf, Barak Marshall, Sharon Eyal, Adonis Foniadakis, and Kaori Ito among others. Since graduating in 2016, Natacha has worked with the company Ex Nihilo for the Euro-Mediterranean project in public space SHAPERS, choreographed by Anne Le Batard and toured in Morocco, Egypt, Spain, and Bosnia. She has also worked with the stage director Robert Carsen at the Opera of Lausanne and with the company Karine Saporta.
Aurore Allo, France
Aurore Allo studied contemporary dance in Paris and Belgium. She has worked for different projects in France and abroad as a dancer and choreographer. She believes in art in public space as a way to communicate with audiences in a common and publicly used area.
Aurore is interested in working with dance and art as a tool for social mediation, specifically with children and disabled people.
Emma Riba, Spain
Born in Andorra in 1990, Emma Riba studied contemporary dance in different schools in Barcelona, finishing her studies in Salzburg at the SEAD academy where she learned from dancers and choreographers such as Edivaldo Ernesto, Rootlessroots, Milan Tomasik, and others. Since 2016, she has worked with choreographers like Willi Dorner, Zsuzsa Rozsavolgyi, Helena Pellisé, and has collaborated as a substitute in the Euro-Mediterranean Project SHAPERS with the Ex Nihilo company. She is currently a member of the Spanish company Cielo Ras0. In 2017, she created the dance collective US BACK IN TOWN together with Laura Alcalà. They work not only in the creation field but also to promote dance and creation as tools for social mediation. They have worked with amateurs in schools as well as with disabled people.
An early step of the project in Marseilles, this meeting was the opportunity for all of the partners to meet the selected dancers and to attend the first rehearsals.
The main topic of discussion in this meeting was the choice of sites for the performances and the constraints and difficulties faced by each partner according to their respective social and political contexts.
In situ creation requires taking into account the specificity of sites, their uses and inhabitants. It is important to explain to the authorities the necessity of this type of work. It is not a question of setting up a scene in the street but of working in immersion in the city in duration and in relation to the context.
This raised the question of the long and necessary authorization requests estimated in terms of security, public management, signposting in each country in a different manner.
Thus the question was raised concerning the following step in Morocco of the possibility of extending authorizations to work beforehand. As well as how and where to rehearse when the choice of site was the United Nations Square, in the heart of the city and life of Casablanca, a meeting point of all neighborhoods, all populations, making it difficult or impossible to use for more time than on the day of the show.
More broadly, the issue of the sites was addressed at the project level. How could the cities of Casablanca, Marseilles, Seville, Sarajevo and Alexandria answer each other, and dialogue through the choice of sites? What sense can be found between these 5 cities? For each of the 5 partners?
The decision was to construct a structure of a performance that would be adaptable to very different places in order to leave the choice of sites open to sites that make sense and to avoid choosing the same type of space in each city.
This would preserve and affirm the possibility of experimenting throughout the project and being reactive at each stage.
The diversity of sites is the strength of the project.
The question of the spaces makes sense during the tour and in the back and forth of the people involved in the project while maintaining an exigency in the choice of the sites. This allows to create a sort of collection of places.
What does this place represent? for the public? the inhabitants or users? in collective memory? Is it symbolic in the current context? How to connect with the public?
A workshop and audition with Anne Le Batard, Jean-Antoine Bigot, Corinne Pontana and Rolando Rocha from the dance company Ex Nihilo was held at the Cité des arts de la rue in Marseilles, France from January 17th to 18th 2017.
This phase was followed by an artistic residency for the creation of the choreographic piece at the Cité des arts de la rue, with all of the 8 participating dancers.
Following the audition, two French dancers were selected for the training program and the creation of the choreographic piece, SHAPERS:
Ex Nihilo [Marseilles, France] is a contemporary dance company, directed by Anne Le Batard and Jean-Antoine Bigot, founded on a common aim: to make public space a favoured space for creation and performance, placing encounters with a particular context and the people using an environment, such as inhabitants, an audience, and passers-by, at the centre of their artistic approach. www.exnihilodanse.fr
At the Mes de Danza # 23 contemporary dance festival (October 26 – November 6), the SHAPERS project had its first artistic residency. This residency was held with the Moroccan and Egyptian dancers in the project, as well as the 2 Spanish dancers selected in the audition that preceded the residence.
Mes de Danza [Seville, Spain] Since its first edition in 1994, the main objective of Mes de Danza Festival is to explore dance in its widest and most varied approaches and trends, and to link performances with the audience (whether familiar or not with dance). Beyond its role as a festival, Mes de Danza has contributed to shape and strengthen the local dance scene, in Andalusia and Spain. www.mesdedanza.es
A two-day workshop and audition took place October 17th and 18th in Sevilla, Spain. Following this workshop, two Spanish dancers were selected to join the creation of the choreographic piece, SHAPERS, during the artistic residency during the Mes de Danza Contemporary Dance Festival #23.
This was the first public presentation of the performance.
This phase of the project included getting in touch with local actors from the danse scene in Seville.
Mes de Danza [Seville, Spain] Since its first edition in 1994, the main objective of Mes de Danza Festival is to explore dance in its widest and most varied approaches and trends, and to link performances with the audience (whether familiar or not with dance). Beyond its role as a festival, Mes de Danza has contributed to shape and strengthen the local dance scene, in Andalusia and Spain. www.mesdedanza.es
De un día para otro estaba dentro del proyecto, de un proyecto muy grande sin ser consciente de los cambios que ocurrirían en mí y a los que, en un principio, me sentí obligada a realizar en menos de dos semanas.
Después de pasarme toda la vida trabajando con la necesidad de tener un suelo de linóleo, liso, limpio, acomodado para bailarines; me encontré con la posibilidad de trabajar en espacios reales, con muchos más volúmenes y texturas reales, palpables.
Empecé a descubrir las millones de posibilidades que podría encontrar con estos nuevos elementos del día a día, ya que estos elementos creaban un espacio concreto, con adjetivos e historias propias.
Por lo que entendí, me centré en introducirme en ese espacio de la forma más natural, tacto e intenciones reales. Quería desestructurar mi mente y cuerpo de bailarina de escenario y ser persona. Me puse objetivos en base a los principios básicos de la técnica de Ex-Nihilo:
Mantener la energía desde el principio hasta el final del entrenamiento
Coger más riesgo, confiar respirando, sintiendo y utilizando los apoyos
Observar las direcciones que toma mi cuerpo sabiendo claramente de dónde parte el movimiento.
Así fue mi primer contacto con este trabajo, mucha información mental y física en muy poco tiempo. Más tarde, asentándolo todo, descubrí que a más intensidad, más “sin pensar” y “sin cuidar” lo que se hace; más de verdad y real es el resultado. Con este riesgo se convierten en posible lo imposible desde la razón.
in’8 circle • maison de productionis a production powerhouse dedicated to the fields of theater, dance and circus. It is a resource for thinking about development, putting in place an organization or creating management and decision-making tools. in’8 circle engages with artists in the development of their projects and their careers.
Created in 2010, in’8 circle • house of production has set up, through encounters with artists, different working methods, adapting its practices in relation to the realities of artistic teams. From support for “permanent” companies to occasional work days with artistic teams in transition or companies in structuration, a whole range of working methods are thus invented.
COOPERATION IN THE MEDITERRANEAN
A partner within the SHAPERS Euro-Mediterranean cooperation project, in’8 circle • maison de production gave its support to all of the partners for the application to the European Union and throughout the project. Ex Nihilo is the lead partner of the SHAPERS project, which is receiving European Union funding from 2016 to 2018 as part of the Creative Europe programme.
Created in 2012, the association Momkin – espaces de possibles aims to initiate and support atypical and innovative artistic and cultural projects in cooperation with Mediterranean cities and territories, by supporting the creation, production and dissemination of artistic works, the design of cultural and intercultural cooperation projects, as well as the development of training and awareness activities.
The in-situ creation laboratory, Nassim el Raqs, organized by Momkin, offers artistic initiatives in interaction with the city of Alexandria every year since 2011.
Emilie Petit, founder of Momkin – espaces de possibles, is a visual artist living and working between Marseilles and Alexandria. Starting from a personal artistic practice based on the experience of geography, developed since 2001 after graduating from the School of Fine Arts in Bordeaux, Emilie Petit has since developed experimental collaborative projects initiating creative processes in atypical and innovative territories and spaces.
Nassim el Raqs is an artistic project that takes place in Alexandria each year (April and May) since 2011. The project is designed and produced by Momkin – Espaces de possibles (Emilie Petit, Marseilles, France).
With a desire to impose experimentation, research and creation in a changing city and in a changing political context, Nassim el Raqs -a laboratory for in situ artistic creation- proposes to open new creative and production frameworks for artists in Alexandria, by inviting them to seize pieces of city to question their practices, their desires, their impulses, their gestures in unpredictable and innovative working contexts.
The project welcomes Egyptian and international artists each year to take over various symbolical locations throughout the city and transform them into unusual venues for performance. Although mainly based on contemporary dancers and choreographers, the project also involves multidisciplinary arts.
Since 2011, Nassim el Raqs hosted more than 20 original performances by artists from Egypt, France, Germany, Ivory Coast, Lebanon, the Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and USA. The performances and activities were attended by more than 4,000 people.
