In a dance drawing from the reserves of the resistance of a body on the verge of exhaustion, Abou Lagraa explores intimacy. Pushing his energy's resilience to the limit, he attempts to bring forth a memory inscribed in the neuronal source of this movements, an atavistic history of his own body, the physical marks of wich are revealed to us here. In a very personnal choreographical grammar, he combines his present, his ambiguities, his doubts. With great sincerity he stages the desire of accomplishment passing through the combination of a history and a desire. The dance is rapid, the movements sweeping, always rubbing up against the limits of the floor. It explores contradictions, the posture is at once serious and frivolous. The two characters Masculine and Feminine get tangled in an obvious duality. It is with incredible energy that the dance manages to resolve an apparent opposition.

Source : Cie La Baraka

En savoir plus : https://www.aboulagraa.fr/ 

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/