Abou Lagraa began dancing in Annonay, before entering the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Lyon. He began his career as a dancer-performer at the S.O.A.P. Dance Theater Frankfurt, working with Rui Horta, before becoming his assistant at the Gulbenkian Ballet in Lisbon.

In 1997, he founded the Compagnie La Baraka, with whom he was successively associate artist at Bonlieu, Scène Nationale d'Annecy (2004-2008) then at Les Gémeaux, Scène Nationale de Sceaux (2009-2013) and finally at the Maison de la Danse in Lyon (2015). The company's reputation quickly spread beyond France's borders, and it began touring all over Europe, as well as the United States, Algeria, Tunisia, Russia and Asia...

In 2010, with Nawal Aït Benalla, he created the first Ballet Contemporain d'Alger with ‘Nya’, a piece whose success led to several national and international tours. This return to his roots inspired his 2013 creation ‘El Djoudour’ (The Roots), the fruit of a fruitful partnership between his own French company and the Ballet Contemporain d'Alger. This creation opened the ‘Marseille-Provence 2013, European Capital of Culture’ event.

In February 2018, La Baraka moved to La Chapelle Sainte-Marie in Annonay. Abou Lagraa and Nawal Aït Benalla decided to co-direct La Baraka and La Chapelle together. This desacralised setting, a jewel of Baroque art, has been transformed into a choreographic studio and houses the company's administrative offices. La Chapelle became a creative residency for French and international dance companies. Like a small ‘Villa Medici’ for dance in the Ardèche.

Source : Cie La Baraka

More information : https://www.compagnielabaraka.com/

The National Center for Contemporary Dance - CNDC - was created in 1978 at the initiative of the Ministry of Culture and the City of Angers. It followed the B.T.C. Ballet contemporary theater directed by Françoise Adret and Jacques-Albert Cartier, transferred to Nancy. Designed as a school of choreographers and the headquarters of a permanent company, it is run by Alwin Nikolais for three years.

When Viola Farber succeeded him in 1981, the school specialized in the training of dancers. Viola Farber forms a new company and inaugurates a teacher training program.

In April 1984, the management of the CNDC was entrusted to Michel Reilhac. The center still trains dancers and teachers. It no longer has a permanent company but serves as a production platform through residences. Large companies of international renown (in residence for two to three months) and younger companies (in the context of the "Summer Quarters") are then present. This is how Merce Cunningham and his company inaugurate the large Bodinier studio and that successive personalities such as Régine Chopinot, Maguy Marin, Odile Duboc, Dominique Bagouet, Mathilde Monnier and Jean-François Duroure, Edward Lock, Hervé Robbe, Philippe Decouflé, Catherine Diverrès and Bernardo Montet, Daniel Larrieu, Trisha Brown, Wim Vandekeybus ...

In April 1988 the new director, Nadia Croquet, continues to develop a policy to support creation, with a more specific openness to Europe. In January 1993, Joëlle Bouvier and Régis Obadia were named artistic directors of the CNDC, then labeled CNDC l'Esquisse.

The CNDC, which became a national choreographic center (CCN) in the 1990s, reinforces its mission as a choreographic center through the production of shows and its role as artistic advisor while continuing the training. At the same time, from 1986 to 2006, he worked with the New Theater of Angers, a national drama center, to offer a program of choreographic performances, thus increasing the audience and the readability of the dance to the public by multiplying the glances on the creation contemporary.

In February 2004, the CNDC is under the direction of the choreographer Emmanuelle Huynh, it intends to perpetuate the tradition of experimental contemporary dance and offer a school in connection with the dynamics of contemporary creation. From 2011, the CNDC School has two major courses, one leads to the National Diploma of Professional Dancer (DNSPD) and the license, the second prepares for a master.

Robert Swinston, who was appointed artistic director of the CNDC in 2012 by the Board of Directors, takes office in January 2013. Create and encourage creativity, develop the legacy of Merce Cunningham, program shows in various aesthetics, train artists autonomous, versatile and of a high level as well as fostering the emergence of new talents, this is the purpose of his project for the CNDC. Communicating to the public the foundations of a creative approach, raising awareness among young people and making the CNDC shine at the local, national and international levels are Robert Swinston's objectives for the CNDC.

The directors of the CNDC since its creation:

Alwin Nikolais (from September 1978 to July 1981)
Viola Farber (from September 1981 to July 1983)
Michel Reilhac (from March 1984 to December 1987)
Nadia Croquet (March 1988 to December 1991)
Joëlle Bouvier and Régis Obadia (from January 1993 to June 2003)
Emmanuelle Huynh (from February 2004 to December 2012)
Robert Swinston since January 2013