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Into the Light
A contemporary dance pioneer in Morocco, Taoufiq Izeddiou is making his North American début with a work that knocks aside any semblance of dance conformism. Driven by the rage of bodies and minds too long condemned to silence, he fights like the devil in the backlight of a triple row of spotlights aimed toward the back of the stage. We see a faceless man grappling with invisible enemies, an anonymous silhouette thirsting for light and space. He uses his fists, his hips, his feet, his voice. Caught in the entrails of his own story, he desperately seeks an exit. Soon he will glare straight into the sun with the fiery spirit and insolence of those who have nothing to lose.
Riding the wave of the Arab spring, Aaléef updates traditions and questions what is possible on the threshold of a new freedom. Taoufiq Izeddiou proclaims a fully assumed, strong and original dance identity.
June 5, 8:00 pm
June 6, 8:00 pm
Tickets: $20
Under 30 / Over 65: $18
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Meet the artists after the performance on June 5Metro Beaudry
Transcending Traditions
It was in his home town of Marrakech that Taoufiq Izeddiou discovered a passion for contemporary dance after some classes in ballet and modern jazz dance. During training that he describes as brutal, he worked with master choreographers such as Joseph Nadj, Daniel Larrieu, Héla Fattoumi and Éric Lamoureux. His encounter with the French-Guyanese-Vietnamese artist Bernardo Montet, director of the Centre Chorégraphique National in Tours, opened the way to his professional career in 1997, and for eight years they pursued a questioning of origins and identity.
While pursuing his career as a dancer, Taoufiq Izeddiou created his first choreography in 2000. The following year his solo Danse Nord established his reputation as a choreographer. In 2003, the success in the Arab community of the ensemble piece Fina K’enti encouraged him to establish Anania, Morocco’s first contemporary dance company, with the choreographers Bouchra Ouizguen and Said Aït El Moumen. Two years later he created the On marche dance festival as well as a training program. To upgrade his qualifications, he decided to obtain a teaching diploma in France. He continues to work in both countries, and his pieces explore social hypocrisy, the tensions between tradition and modernity and between North and South, with the body only free under cover of darkness. Following after Cœur sans corps, Déserts désirs and Aataba, Aaléef is his ninth piece.
Press Quote(s)
« Une mise à nu : c’est un peu à cela que procède de son côté, métaphoriquement, Taoufiq Izeddiou, dans son solo Aleef, accompagné d’un musicien performer. Le chorégraphe marocain puise au plus creux de la pénombre une construction intransigeante de lui-même. Cela tient du fantastique, de l’onirique, mais tout autant d’un furieux concret. Acre, entêté, l’artiste balance son corps qui ne doit rien aux canons de la grâce dansante, dans un secouement de sa carcasse, que soutient tout l’espace qu’il projette. »
Gérard Mayen, Mouvement, 11 avril 2011
« On ne l'a jamais connu aussi physique, engagé de tout l'être, y compris avec la voix. […] Ce soliloque, dansé par un corps massif aux cuisses puissantes, rend sans doute palpable la part obscure de l'artiste. C'est d'autant plus efficace que sa trajectoire simple, fortement déterminée dans l'espace, s'effectue avec le minimum de moyens pour affirmer une volonté de découvrir. »
Muriel Steinmetz, L’Humanité, 4 avril 2011
« Aléeff est étreint d’une vigoureuse exaltation onirique dont les replis insoupçonnés aiguisent les accents de vérité, qui ne trompent pas. »
Gérard Mayen, Danser, janvier 2011
« Au delà du sens qui est mis dans ce travail, le chorégraphe maintient un enjeu esthétique majeur, la pensée de la modernité. Ce qu'Aaleef porte de modernité, c'est-à-dire une jointure entre l'ancien et le contemporain, s'élabore dans une présence scénique précaire, instable et qui donne à voir sa fragilité et sa fugacité. »
Amandine André, laviemanifeste.com, janvier 2011
Credits
PRODUCED BY Compagnie Anania
CHOREOGRAPHED AND PERFORMED BY Taoufiq Izeddiou
LIVE MUSIC Maâlem Adil Amimi
SOUND DESIGN Guy Raynaud
LIGHTING DESIGN Taoufiq Izeddiou
COPRODUCTION Service de Coopération et d’Action Culturelle de l’Ambassade de France (Rabat) + Institut français (Paris) + Centre National de la danse (Pantin) + Centre chorégraphique national de Tours + Centre chorégraphique national de Caen + Scène Nationale de Bonlieu (Annecy) + Mission départementale de la culture de l'Aveyron + MJC Rodez
WITH THE SUPPORT OF Officina et Kelemenis & cie (Marseille)
PRESENTED WITH THE SUPPORT OF Institut Français (Afrique et Caraïbes en Création)
WRITTEN BY Fabienne Cabado
TRANSLATED BY Neil Kroetsch
Premiered at Festival Danse d'ailleurs, Caen, 31 mars 2011
514 844 3822 / 1 866 984 3822
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED / FESTIVAL TRANSAMÉRIQUES