"In the beginning was emptiness. An abyssal emptiness, which Nature never abhorred, always adored. An absolute desert, which Nature shelters and cherishes since the beginning of times. A pure nothingness, from which Nature sprung out at the dawn of the world, and that it harboured in its bosom forever. From ' nothing ' comes everything. And in everything 'nothing' feels at home. From the tiniest atoms to the biggest star , the emptiness inhabits us. Haunts us. Founds us. Fool us. Enchants us. In the deepest part of ourselves lies a core of nothingness. At the heart of our intimacy widen some infinite abysses. At the center of the universe burns an insatiable black hole. We are built on an absence. What are we made of? Stardust, past lives, engulfed spaces... the fabric of our dreams. Each of us is an indefinitely spreading unverse, a secret melting pot in which, in a way, the history of the whole cosmos keeps occuring. Thus , through our dance , we stage the creation of a world, from the nakedness of the origins to the explosion of generations, from primitive chaos to the latest complexity. Within a space delimited by the vibrations of sixteen strings, seven deeply and beautifully moving bodies, which are like seven heavenly spheres and all filled with history, embrace a wide journey from the gift of birth to the awakeness of conscience, from self-taming to understanding of the others, from the building of identity to the creation of a community. The metamorphis of a being in constant evolution echoes proliferating kinds of relation: the miracle of meeting, the surprise of alterity, the shine of desire, the violence of conflicts, the dream of melting, the search for difference, the furor for overcoming, the bliss of recognition, the experience of loneliness... Diving into A World of Itself is like throwing oneself's heart, mind and soul into a journey to the heart of evolution and its different dimensions - cosmos, species , individual, society. With musics by John Cage and Anton Webern, this show gathers various forms of arts, the choreographer Abou Lagraa ' s impulsions and the Quatuor Debussy ' s vibrations, the seven dancers' bursting and the dramaturg Gérald Garutti's horizons.

Source : La Baraka

More information : 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/