Mary Wigman (1886-1973) signed near on one hundred solos in the course of her life, of which only five were filmed. This is the case of her Hexentanz (Witch Dance), the first two minutes of which were recorded in 1930 and contribute still today to guaranteeing the reputation acquired by this work very early on. The North American dancer and researcher, Mary Ann Santos Newhall, has devoted lengthy research to this Tanz Drama (Danced Drama). Thanks to a thorough examination of the available archives, today she delivers the first in extenso revival of this choreography for which she has chosen Latifa Laâbissi as interpeter. 

Latifa Laâbissi’s work, mixing genres, reflecting and redefining formats, introduces a multiple off-stage dimension: an anthropological landscape where stories, figures and voices intersect. The use of voice and face as conveyors of states and minority accents becomes inseparable from the act of dancing in Self portrait camouflage (2006), Histoire par celui qui la raconte (2008) and Loredreamsong (2010). After Phasmes (2001), a piece haunted by the ghosts of Dore Hoyer, Valeska Gert and Mary Wigman, she returns to German dance of the 1920s with the diptych Écran somnambule and La part du rite (2012). She thought up Autoarchive (2013), a performative form relating to the issues and filiations of her own work. Her last creation was the aptly named Adieu et merci (2013). 

(source: programme of the CND)

German dancer and choreographer (Hanover 1886-Berlin 1973).

Despite being trained by Rudolf van Laban, she was not his follower.  Her ideas about dance free from music have found a broad audience in Germany, Switzerland, and America.  In one of the first, she used percussion instruments. She is known for creating The Language of Dance (1996).

Since 2001, the National Center for Dance (CND) has been making recordings of its shows and educational programming and has created resources from these filmed performances (interviews, danced conferences, meetings with artists, demonstrations, major lessons, symposia specialized, thematic arrangements, etc.).