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.
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.
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
At the Cité des arts de la rue, June 29th & 30th & the Ballet National de Marseille, July 1st 2018
Since the beginning of the project in 2016, the young dancers participating in the SHAPERS project have had the opportunity to meet various choreographers to discover new aesthetics and deepen their choreographic vocabulary. Open to all other dancers (either professional or in the midst of becoming professional), these masterclasses were also an opportunity for the project participants to meet other dancers from the region.
Within this context, for the last of the project’s series of four masterclasses, Ex Nihilo invited Ali Salmi, dancer, choreographer, and artistic director of the Osmosis Company, to share his approach and relationship to public space.
This masterclass was organized within the MP2018 SUMMERSCHOOL programme, a project initiated by the Ballet National de Marseille, marseille objectif DansE, Le Pôle 164, l’Ecole Nationale Supérieure de danse de Marseille, Le Ballet Preljocaj, Le Groupe Grenade, and KLAP Maison pour la Danse.
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
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.
Hayyou’Raqs is an association that aims to reinforce the training possibilities and professional integration in Tunisia’s dance community.
حيّوا الرقص هي جمعيّة تسعى إلى المساهمة في تعزيز عرض التدريبوالإدماج المهني في قطاع الرقص في تونس.
Hayyou’Raqs est une association qui entend contribuer au renforcement de l’offre de formation et de l’insertion professionnelle dans le secteur de la danse en Tunisie.
Since the beginning of the project in 2016, the young dancers participating in the SHAPERS project have had the opportunity to meet various choreographers to discover new aesthetics and deepen their choreographic vocabulary. Open to all other dancers (either professional or in the midst of becoming professional), these masterclasses were also an opportunity for the project participants to meet other dancers from the region.
Within this context, choreographer Thierry Thieû Niang was invited to give the masterclass Sharing with others, beyond the generation gap in Marseilles at the Cité des arts de la rue, in which the SHAPERS dancers participated alongside elderly amateur dancers.
Dancer and choreographer Thierry Thieû Niang associates artists from different disciplines as well as children, adolescents, elderly amateurs, prisoners, and autistic people, to his creations.
During the 17/18 season, he is working in theater, opera, dance, and cinema with the following artists: Marie Desplechin, Ariane Ascaride, Anne Alvaro, Éponine Momenceau, Dominique Blanc, Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, Linda Lê, Claire-Ingrid Cottanceau, Madeleine Louarn, Sara Llorca, Daniel Jeanneteau, Jean Bellorini, Philippe Lefait, Olivier Mellano, Jimmy Boury, Éric Caravaca, Sébastien Ly, Nicolas Daussy, François Gedigier, and François Waledisch.
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.
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
