Around the theme Decolonizing the body.

«Algerian women 1960»

Performance | exchange | Collective practices


Photo Morena Campani

Photos Marc Garanger.

Chorégraphie et interprétation Saïda Naït-Bouda

Duration of performance 25".

Accompagnement à la recherche en danse Cinzia Menga

Collaboration artistique Isabelle Maurel

Images  « Femmes algériennes 1960 » Marc Garanger

Poésie « La rapatrie » de Sofian’ Naït-Bouda

Musique Bande enregistrée à partir de composition originales de Camel Zekri.

Costume Raphaëlle Sinaï

 

Production La Cie Elhâl. Co-production Cie Mata Malam. NewRegentes Theater.

Accueil en résidence et présentation publique

Festival Induction (Samonac).  Septembre 2021. Cie MataMalam.

NewRegente theater. Novembre 2021 La Haye.Hollande en collaboration avec Bouchra Arbaoui et Fazl


At a time when memories cannot remain buried, Algerian Women 1960 is an experience where the public is invited to share, see, live a story that concerns all of us.

 

“Algerian Women 1960” is a healing ritual in black and white. Black of history, black and white of photos, white of homage, creation and transmission.

 

The event begins with a solo dance performance, followed by an invitation to the public to practice a collective dance to celebrate and honor our story in the reconciliation . To conclude, a moment of exchange where I will tell about my quest for identity and my search between colonization and decolonization.

 

The performance « Femmes algériennes 1960 »

 


No hearth on earth        so many steps to take

wind has no friend       wind has no time
I drag along in my furrow voices of voiceless sadness    

forefathers are but sobs
Keeping agonizing after they stopped talking    

after being silenced
My flesh is from this blood
Like them      I will cry on after having cried on
Like them       I’ll pour this rain

Innerback Homeland | Sofian Naït-Bouda

 

 

 

In 1960 during the Algerian war, Marc Garanger, a young member of the contingent, photographed the "natives" as part of the regrouping of populations. The vast majority of women are forced to reveal themselves and allow themselves to be photographed.

It is from the founding encounter with these photos that Saïda Naït-Bouda will initiate a process of artistic creation which involves the constant questioning of the body as a trace of individual and collective memory.

Through a slow - and long - initiatory research that will last 20 years, it will lead to the practice of the archaic movement of El hâl, (or state of divine presence in the Arabic language), exploration of trance and of the body reconnected to its alchemical relationship. with the earth.

An art where anchoring to the earth and verticality, the relationship to ancestral memories, the connection to the questions that agitate our society are all exploration where the artist and the spectator are at the heart of the healing process.

The reading of the poetry "La Rapatrie" by Sofian 'Naït-Bouda (son of the choreographer), the projection of the images "Algerian women 1960" by Marc Garanger, the dance ritual are all keys that bear witness to the quest and to the truth of being.

In this case, the truth of a landless, a rootless, which at the heart of the movement finds a space where to share a story that concerns us all.

 

 

The moment of collective practice

 

Carried by the power of evocation and rocked by the magical rhythms, the members of the public are gradually brought into the circle of dance. A moment when everyone expresses their "hâl" to practice or contemplate.

 

The exchange time

 

In an intimate relationship with the public, Saïda Naït-Bouda relies on her knowledge of the art of orality to continue the performance with an original moment of exchange. Matching the words, not hesitating to sketch some movements, answering the questions of the public in a sincere and facetious way at the same time. A moment in continuity where we no longer know too well if we are not yet in the show.

 

Algerian women can be accompanied by a series of workshops to meet the public

 

> Large discovery workshops for all audiences

Dance El hâl. ---->

 

> MasterClass

From Lamentation to trance, from archaic movement to creation  ---->

 

> > Workshops for artists young people in training

Dancing the sacred, ritual space in dance.----->

 

> Women's rituals

Sacred feminine Anchoring to the earth  ---->

 

> Workshops between parents and children

The 7 colors of the universe, a transposition of the Gnaouas rituals.