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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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Performance in Newbury

Invited by the 101 Outdoor Arts Creation Space and Corn Exchange Newbury, SHAPERS was performed in the UK in Newbury, at the central market place on August 27th. 

101 Outdoor Arts creation space is a space dedicated to large-scale outdoor artistic projects, run by Corn Exchange Newbury in addition to their main theater and cinema.

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, from the Ex Nihilo company

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

Music: Pascal Ferrari and Jean-Antoine Bigot

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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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Performance in Cairo

SHAPERS was performed during the seventh edition of D-CAF (Downtown Contemporary Arts Festival) in Cairo, Egypt, at the Goethe Institute on March 23rd, 2018.

This performance was organized by the project partner Momkin-espaces de possibles.

 

Momkin – espaces de possibles [Marseille, France] aims at initiating and accompanying artistic and cultural projects within cities and territories across the Mediterranean region, by creating, producing, and performing artistic works, as well as through the development of cultural and intercultural projects, of training programmes and awareness building campaigns. Since 2011, Momkin has carried out the Nassim el Raqs festival, featuring artistic initiatives linked to the city of Alexandria. www.momkin.co

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Performance in Cordoba

SHAPERS was presented in Sevilla and Córdoba on November 5th, 2017, as part of the 24th Edition of the MES DE DANZA Festival at C3A: Contemporary Creation Center of Andalusia, in partnership with the Casa Arabe (Córdoba).

Mes de Danza is an international festival of contemporary dance in Sevilla. Project partner and artistic director of the festival, Maria Gonzales chose to situate this performance in three very different places – at the Pavilion of the future at the historical Sevilla World Fair site, in the Sevilla penitentiary center, and in Cordoba, in front of the C3A: Contemporary Creation Center of Andalusia.

“The locations of each performance were radically different from each other, allowing the piece to explore different subjects and contours as well as to confront different audiences. In Seville, the performance was in the former site of the 1992 Seville World Expo, an abandoned place that came alive through SHAPERS. The other performance in Sevilla in the penitentiary center encountered a particular audience.

The third location, in Cordoba, radically in contrast with the ’92 Expo site, was a recently inaugurated space, the Andalusian Center of Contemporary Creation.

The choice of such divergent spaces highlighted the richness of this artistic project, offering the dancers challenges of different nature in each space.”

– Maria Gonzales, Artistic director of Mes de Danza

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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Performances in Sevilla

SHAPERS was presented as part of the 24th Edition of the MES DE DANZA Festival in Sevilla from October 28th – November 2nd, and in Cordoba on November 5th at:

– The Pavilion for the Future from the 1992 International Exhibition, designed by the architect Oriol Bohigas, in Sevilla, October 28th

– The Sevilla penitentiary, on November 2nd

– The C3A: Contemporary creation Center, in partnership with Casa Arabe, in Cordoba, November 5th

The choreographer and dancers adapted the piece to the location at the Pavilion for the Future during two days rehearsing on-site.

“The locations of each performance were radically different from each other, allowing the piece to explore different subjects and contours as well as to confront different audiences.

In Sevilla, the performance was at the former site of the 1992 Seville World Expo, an abandoned place that came alive through SHAPERS. The other performance in Sevilla, at the penitentiary center, encountered a particular audience.

The third location, in Cordoba, radically in contrast with the ’92 Expo site, was a recently inaugurated space, the Andalusian Center of Contemporary Creation. The choice of such divergent spaces highlighted the richness of this artistic project, offering the dancers challenges of different nature in each space.”

-Maria Gonzales, Artist director of the Mes de Danza festival

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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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 Alexandria

Nassim el Raqs#7

Following an artistic residency from April 27th to May 5th, in Alexandria, Egypt, the premiere of SHAPERS took place on the esplanade of the Mosque Abu al-Abbas al Mursi during the 7th edition of the Nassim el Raqs festival/laboratory for in situ creation on May 9th, 2017.

The Abu al-Abbas al Mursi Mosque in Alexandria hosts the tomb of Alexandrine Sufi saint of the same name. After having travelled from Al-Andalus to Morocco, he settled in Alexandria, where he died.

Last May, young dancers trained through the SHAPERS project, Ex Nihilo dance company and the Nassim el-Raqs Festival, had the immense honor of being hosted by the Mosque compound to work on the performance. This experience brought to light important stakes raised by contemporary dance in public and unusual spaces in the euro-med zone today. It demonstrated how certain security and contextual issues, no matter how many constraints they can impose on the development of public space creation, can sometimes be overcome by mobilizing local and international teams, through tight cohesion and forceful ground occupation.

Thank to the support of: CCFD Terres Solidaires, B’saria for Art, The Tourism department of the Alexandrian Governorate, The Swedish Institute, The Spain Embassy in Cairo, Ex Nihilo through The French Institute / the Provence-Alpes-Côte-d’Azur Region

Special thanks to : Cheikh Gaber and The Mosque Abu el Abbes el Morsi, General Ahmed Hegazy, Yasmine Hussein

Images : Nassim el Raqs video team / Editing : Carole Lorthiois

Momkin – espaces de possibles [Marseille, France] aims at initiating and accompanying artistic and cultural projects within cities and territories across the Mediterranean region, by creating, producing, and performing artistic works, as well as through the development of cultural and intercultural projects, of training programmes and awareness building campaigns. Since 2011, Momkin has carried out the Nassim el Raqs festival, featuring artistic initiatives linked to the city of Alexandria.