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Performance in Budapest

Rákóczi tér, Budapest, Hungary 

As a part of the 2018 PLACCC festival, the SHAPERS performance was presented in front of the Rákóczi tér marketplace.

The beautiful and powerful performance by 8 dancers from Arab and European countries represents the openness towards other people, and I wanted to bring this openness and acceptance to the toxic atmosphere that the government propaganda creates in Hungary … Rákóczi square is situated on the border of a poorer and ambivalent district of Budapest, but it has been under development and gentrification in the past years.

-Fanni Nánay, Director of the PLACCC Festival

 

For a review of the performance by Zsuzsanna Komjathy, click here.

The performance was followed by a discussion led by curator Gábor Pinter, from the Parallel Art Foundation with speakers: Anne Le Batard, choreographer and co-director of the Ex Nihilo company, Elvi Balboa & Ahmed Shamel, participating dancers in the SHAPERS project, Martin BOROSS from the Stereo Akt company, and Réka SZABÓ from The Symptoms company.

In 2018 the PLACCC festival continued its work of the past 10 years, once again hosting site-specific artistic events in public spaces and at unique venues. The keywords of the festival for this year were body and technology, with a programme mainly consisting of dance productions and projects based on new technologies.

SHAPERS, a piece for public and singular spaces for 8 dancers 45 minutes

Conception: Anne Le Batard and Jean-Antoine Bigot, with assistance from Rolando Rocha and Corinne Pontana

Dancers: Lucia Bocanegra, Mourad Koula, Natacha Kierbel, Shady Abdelahman, Elvira Balboa, Ayoub Kerkal, Aurore Allo, Ahmed Shamel, and Emma Riba.

Music: Pascal Ferrari and Jean-Antoine Bigot

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T-Talk II at the Tanzmesse

SHAPERS: Challenging perception. Dance in public places in the Euro-Mediterranean – PART II

Partners of the SHAPERS project presented at a ‘T-Talk’ for the second time at the internationale tanzmesse nrw, a biennial gathering of contemporary dance professionals in Düsseldorf, Germany.

The partner organisations of the EU project SHAPERS shared and discussed the experience they gathered over the past 2 years: How do cities and public spaces challenge dance and bodies and how do artists renegotiate the perception and role of the body in the Euro-Mediterranean? Together with eight dancers from France, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Morocco, Spain and Egypt, they shared experiences of training, creation and cooperation across the Euro-Mediterranean for contemporary dance in public spaces and unusual locations.

Speakers

Anne Le Batard and Jean Antoine Bigot (choreographers and Ex Nihilo’s co-artistic directors), Anne Rossignol (in8circle’s director), Meryem Jazouli (choreographer and Espace Darja’s artistic director), Emilie Petit (artist and Momkin espaces de possibles & Nassim el Raqs’ artistic director), Maria Gonzales (artistic director of Mes de Danza), Lucien Arino (artistic director of Centre Rézodanse Egypte), Jasmina Prolic (choreographer and ZVRK artistic director)

Internationale tanzmesse nrw gathers artists from more than 50 countries in Europe, the Americas, Africa and Asia providing an equal opportunity to present their work to a professional audience. The Tanzmesse is an event dedicated to contemporary dance without any specific geographical focus.

More on the internationale tanzmesse nrw

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Performance in Tarragona

Tarragona, Spain

On July 14th, the performance SHAPERS was presented on the Plaça Corsini, in Tarragona as part of the JOCS MEDITERRANIS – TARRAGONA 2018 cultural program, organized by Produccion Trans-Forma and its artistic director Maria Gonzales.

SHAPERS – a performance in adaptation, reinvention, questioned, constantly renewed. Questions for dance, cities, spaces, but especially for others, the group, the community.

 

A piece for public and singular spaces for 8 dancers 45 minutes

Conception: Anne Le Batard and Jean-Antoine Bigot, with assistance from Rolando Rocha and Corinne Pontana – Ex Nihilo dance company

Dancers: Lucia Bocanegra, Mourad Koula, Natacha Kierbel, Shady Abdelahman, Elvira Balboa, Ayoub Kerkal, Aurore Allo, Ahmed Shamel, and Emma Riba.

Music: Pascal Ferrari and Jean-Antoine Bigot

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 audiences -both familiar and unfamiliar with dance- to the performances. 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

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Performance in Marseilles

In front of the Centre Bourse, in the Belsunce neighborhood

This performance of SHAPERS was within the project’s ‘Focus in Marseilles’, organized by the company Ex Nihilo, from June 23rd to July 1st, including two conferences, the performance, and a masterclass.

Presented as a part of the Dimanches de la Canebière, in partnership with Lieux Publics – a national center for creation in public space, and the Festival de Marseille, SHAPERS was performed in Marseilles on June 24th.

The Dimanches de la Canebière are a cultural event organized by the Mairie of the 1st & 7th arrondissements.

Focus in Marseilles

Parallel to this performance, two conferences were organized within the ‘FESTIVAL OF IDEAS : MAKING THE CITY TOGETHER #2’ in the 23rd edition of the Festival de Marseille : Artistic practices in public space in the Mediterranean on June 23rd, and Artistic practices co-created with urban stakeholders on July 1st, at the Théâtre des Bernardines. The masterclass with the choreographer Ali Salmi took place at the Cité des Arts de la rue and at the Ballet National de Marseille from June 29th to July 1st.

 

A piece for public and singular spaces for 9 dancers 45 minutes

Conception: Anne Le Batard and Jean-Antoine Bigot, with assistance from Rolando Rocha and Corinne Pontana

Dancers: Lucia Bocanegra, Mourad Koula, Natacha Kierbel, Shady Abdelahman, Elvira Balboa, Ayoub Kerkal, Aurore Allo, Ahmed Shamel, and Emma Riba.

Music: Pascal Ferrari and Jean-Antoine Bigot

Ex Nihilo [Marseille, 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

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Articles by Alix de Morant

Alix de Morant is the Assistant Professor of Theatre & Choreography at Université Paul Valery Montpellier 3 and Member of RIRRA 21 ( EA4209). She is part of the pedagogic team of EXERCE Master of Choreography (Université Paul Valéry Montpellier/ICI-CCN Montpellier Occitanie-direction Christian Rizzo) and directs the DAPCE Master degree in European Art & Culture Management. In addition to several publications in Art press, Alternatives Théâtrales, Ballet/Tanz, COI, Ligeia, Theatre/Public, she is the author with Sylvie Clidière of the essay Exterieur Danse, and contributed to La scène et les images (Paris, CNRS 2001), Butô(s) (Paris, CNRS, 2002), Rythmes, flux, corps. Art et ville contemporaine (CIEREC-Presses Universitaires de Saint Etienne, 2012), La rue comme espace chorégraphique (Presses Universitaires de Rouen, 2017).

Her interest includes site specific experiences, contemporary dance & performance, theatre & cognitive science. Trained as dancer & actress, she is working mainly on the relation between practice and theory.

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Performances in Mostar and Banja Luka

September 2017

As a part of the ZVRK festival (Bosnia and Herzegovina), SHAPERS went on tour and performed in:

  • Sarajevo on September 27th
  • Mostar on September 25th
  • Banja Luka on September 30th

The festival included a conference on September 28th for professional networking to discuss best practices in public spaces.

Zvrk [Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina], an association promoting education and new dance initiatives in Bosnia and Herzegovina, launched for the first edition of the Zvrk Festival in 2009. This organisation was founded as the result of a common goal among cultural actors and artists in Bosnia and Herzegovina to develop dance at a local level, through teaching, outreach initiatives, and performances. https://zvrkart.com/

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Performance in Sarajevo

September 2017

As a part of the ZVRK festival (Bosnia and Herzegovina), SHAPERS went on tour and performed in:

  • Sarajevo on September 27th
  • Mostar on September 25th
  • Banja Luka on September 30th

The festival included a conference on September 28th for professional networking to discuss best practices in public spaces.

Zvrk [Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina], an association promoting education and new dance initiatives in Bosnia and Herzegovina, launched for the first edition of the Zvrk Festival in 2009. This organisation was founded as the result of a common goal among cultural actors and artists in Bosnia and Herzegovina to develop dance at a local level, through teaching, outreach initiatives, and performances. https://zvrkart.com/

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Performance in Casablanca

Following an artistic residency from February 29th to March 6th at l’Espace Darja in Casablanca, Meryem Jazouli,  the choreographer and artistic Director of Espace Darja, chose to present the very first steps of the dance creation and the cooperation’s project at the core of the city center of Casablanca: The United Nation Square, right in front of the Medina (the original city). This space reflects the city itself and is crossed every day by thousands of people coming from and going everywhere…

The public performance was made possible thanks to a partnership with the French Institute of Casablanca.

 

Espace Darja [Casablanca, Morocco] founded by choreographer Meriem Jazouli, is a place for artistic residencies and cultural experimentation, locally known as a platform for dialogue, encounters, and performances. Its aim is to develop contemporary dance in Morocco. www.espacedarja.com

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Casablanca artistic residency

The 4 Ex Nihilo dancers (Anne Le Batard, Jean Antoine Bigot, Corinne Pontana and Rolando Rocha) led a creation residency with the eight SHAPERS dancers from February 29th to March 8th at Espace Darja in Casablanca, Morocco.

A few weeks after the whole team gathered for the first time in Marseille, the squares and streets of Casablanca offered new atmospheres and spaces to observe, to react to, to dance in, and to create for.

Meryem Jazouli,  the choreographer and artistic Director of Espace Darja, chose to present the very first steps of the dance creation and the cooperation’s project at the core of the city center of Casablanca: The United Nations Square, right in front of the Medina (the old city). This space reflects the city itself and is crossed every day by thousands of people coming from and going everywhere…

“How do you make a gesture, your gesture, in a space like this?
How do you give it enough life to echo that architecture, this framework and in the public mind?

With generosity, sobriety and a lot of presence, the dancers learned to carry, transmit, question and even to react to the public around this choreographic object which they defended relentlessly.”

-Meryem Jazouli, Espace Darja

This public performance was made possible thanks to a partnership with the French Institute of Casablanca.

Espace Darja [Casablanca, Morocco] founded by choreographer Meryem Jazouli, is a place for artistic residencies and cultural experimentation, locally known as a platform for dialogue, encounters, and performances. Its aim is to develop contemporary dance in Morocco. www.espacedarja.com