Choreography by Flora Théfaine  
A choreographic extract remodelled by the group ACLC (Cordemais), artistic coordinator Isabelle Balu-Cathelot, as part of the “Danse en amateur et repertoire” programme (2013) (a programme created to assist and promote amateur dancing).

The group

The ACLC group is made up of eight dance school female students. The students are aged fourteen to twenty-one, and have practiced dance for ten years. They attend dance classes three hours a week and, each year, participate in competitions held by the Fédération Française de Danse as well as in the Rencontres chorégraphiques de Loire-Atlantique. They have attended training sessions led by Josette Baïz, James Carlès, Mourad Merzouki from the Käfig company, Electro Kif from the Blanca Li’s company, and Maryse Delente, all invited by the ACLC in the last four seasons.

The project 

Continuing a work initiated in 2012 with James Carlès and a first work from the repertoire The Negro Speaks of River by Pearl Primus, Plissé Soleil is a flagship work from the repertoire of Flora Théfaine’s company Kossiva. This work retraces the four seasons: “Everywhere, ritually and in all times, dances have marked the rhythm of seasonal work. In the matching game, musics and gestures have more than one bridge in common [...]. Ploughing and sowing here, harvesting and picking there”. ACLC has chosen autumn. The new aesthetics of this extract has enriched their approach to the African contemporary dance universe. 

The choreographer and artist

Flora Théfaine is a pioneer of African contemporary dance. She arrived in France from her native country, Togo, one day in the year 1969, to take root in lands other than her own, and decided to draw inspiration from the traditions of her country to create unique and cross-cultural contemporary choreographies. Her distinctive feature: direct artists from different origins and backgrounds, to stimulate her imagination and nurture her choreographic research. With some twenty works, her research is rooted in social and intimate reality, with the conviction that “the disposition of human beings for resilience and the determination to follow their dreams results in dance”.  

Flora Théfaine is a pioneer of African contemporary dance. She arrived in France from her native country, Togo, one day in the year 1969, to take root in lands other than her own, and decided to draw inspiration from the traditions of her country to create unique and cross-cultural contemporary choreographies. Her distinctive feature: direct artists from different origins and backgrounds, to stimulate her imagination and nurture her choreographic research. With some twenty works, her research is rooted in social and intimate reality, with the conviction that “the disposition of human beings for resilience and the determination to follow their dreams results in dance”. 

Amateur Dance and Repertory is a companion program to amateur practice beyond the dance class and the technical learning phase. Intended for groups of amateur dancers, it opens a space of sharing for those who wish to deepen a practice and a knowledge of the dance in relation to its history.

Laurent Barré
 Head of Research and Choreographic Directories
Anne-Christine Waibel
 Research Assistant and Choreographic Directories
 +33 (0)1 41 83 43 96
danse-amateur-repertoire@cnd.fr

Source: CN D

More information: https://www.cnd.fr/en/page/323-danse-en-amateur-et-repertoire-grant-programme