At the Théâtre national d'Alger, Ô mon corps ! follows the French choreographer Abou Lagraa, assisted by Nawal Aït Benalla-Lagraa, his wife, while he is working on the creation of a first Algerian contemporary dance company. For the show Nya (“Trust in life”), from rehearsals to the stage, the ten dancers hailing from the hip hop scene will progressively find the force and energy they need to embody this “trust” in front of the public.

Laurent Aït Benalla records how, throughout the preparation of the performance, the choreographer and his wife are extremely demanding of their dancers. Between warm-ups and run-throughs, they both take the time required to ensure each dancer commits to forms and qualities of movement that they would not have dared before. Obliged to exclude one of the dancers, too hesitant to guarantee the success of a trio, Abou Lagraa lets the voice of the group take over to try to convince him to leave his fears to one side. Between the individual and the group, no separation is possible: “You must be independent, in the group” states the choreographer. His work, in the form of a diptych supported in turn by Ravel’s Boléro and by songs by Houria Aïchi – the first part is airy, the second part more earthy – will be unveiled at the end of the film with great modesty from the wings, that place where dancers move from shadow to light.

Source : Damien Truchot

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/

Born in Morocco of a Berber father and French mother, Nawal Aït Benalla Lagraa moved to France with her family when she was eight. She began ballet very young and completed her classical training, during which she tackled the repertoire’s great roles. Before long, Nawal broadened her dancing and became interested in contemporary and jazz styles. She took part in
productions with the Armstrong Jazz Ballet, where she had the opportunity to work with choreographers as contrasting as Wayne Barbaste and Géraldine Armstrong, Georges Momboye and Matt Mattox... 

An artist in the fullest sense, open to diverse forms of artistic expression, Nawal was soon approached by many other choreographers and directors.
As a result, she has performed in Jacques Weber’s Cyrano de Bergerac at the Théâtre du Châtelet, in Yannis Kokkos’ The Trojans and at Opéra Bastille with Blanca Li... She has also taken part in numerous audiovisual events. 

Passionately committed to exchanges and teaching, in 2005 she obtained her State Diploma as a dance teacher at the Centre National de la Danse, Pantin (Paris). 

She joined the La Baraka company in 2006 for Matri(k)is and became Abou Lagraa’s assistant for the Ballet Memphis (USA) commission in 2007. 

For the Lyon International Dance Biennial in 2008, Abou Lagraa devised the duet D Eux Sens for Nawal and himself. 

In 2009, she assisted Abou Lagraa for the Closing Ceremony of the Pan African Festival in Algiers. This was a revelation for her, and she decided to dedicate herself more fully to training young Algerian dancers, offering them professional status through an introduction to contemporary dance. 

In 2010, in addition to performing in Un monde en soi, a piece for seven dancers and the Debussy Quartet, she helped Abou Lagraa develop the Mediterranean Cultural Bridge project for which she took over the educational leadership. 

In her own words This intensive training is, in my opinion, the right way to convey to these young performers, committed in body and in soul, the appreciation for hard work and thought that you need to gain access to the state of dance, to freedom... 

She continues to teach while NYA is on tour, and shares her love of teaching in many workshops and masterclasses, particularly in France, the Netherlands, Spain, Poland, Russia, the USA... 

She assisted Abou Lagraa for his 2012 creation, Univers l Afrique, and helps the dancers of the Algiers Contemporary Ballet in their teaching mission to help a new generation of teacher/dancers bloom in Algeria. 

Source : La Baraka

En savoir plus : www.aboulagraa.fr

Born in 1976, lives and works in Montpelier. Operator and photographer, he forms in the recording and turns a first documentary movie about chikhat, in Morocco, with Mohammed Atif, in 2003. He creates then SLAB, a structure of production within which he turns a portrait of the film-maker Marcel Hanoun and a short documentary between 2008 and 2009, and coproduces diverse projects.

In 2010, la Compagnie La Baraka commands him the realization of a short movie, turned in Algiers, on the preparation of Nya, Abou Lagraa: it looks On the Bridge (9 '). He intends to prolong this meeting with young Algerian contemporary dancers and la compagnie La Baraka by a movie, for the television or the cinema, which redraws this adventure.

Source : SLAB production

En savoir plus : www.slab-net.com