"Over Dance" – the Fondazione Nazionale della Danza / Aterballetto’s new production premieres in Paris
World premiere on February 15 at the Théâtre de Chaillot in Paris of Un jour nouveau | Birthday party (Over Dance), the new production by Fondazione Nazionale della Danza / Aterballetto - National Choreographic Centre in Reggio Emilia.
In this creation, the two well-known choreographers Angelin Preljocaj and Rachid Ouramdane, each with their own specific style, deal with some highly interesting themes, and not only artistic ones. The transformation of the body with age, the concepts of beauty and virtuosity, the self-representation by each of us of our own age.
“Dance allows us to deepen the research, that is primarily artistic”, says Director of FND/Aterballetto Gigi Cristoforetti. “Angelin Preljocaj – the choreographer of visual beauty and narrative strength – is not only looking for former dancers. He is also interested in people, in their aptitude to narrate and create a new and intense movement. Rachid Ouramdane incessantly searches for new expressive nuances, and experiments with the boundaries of the human body, reaching up to the circus. On this occasion his interest was naturally oriented towards music hall, an extraordinary space for popular and art dance, and a social dimension, too. For Angelin Preljocaj as for Rachid Ouramdane, it is important to make this fascinating material –made up of different bodies and physical histories– react, to deeply question the canons of beauty and virtuosity.”
“In this project, the goal is poetic, – explains Cristoforetti – and crystallizes truly universal questions. The central one is suggested just by Preljocaj: what is the age of a body?”
“The eight performers of Birthday party, aged between 67 and 80, try to answer, – says Angelin Preljocaj – and they might well echo Spinoza's phrase "the soul is a thought of the body".
“For example, Kazuo Ohno's Butoh reminds us that getting older doesn't necessarily mean giving up or physically weakening. It doesn't seem an end but rather a beginning, like an echo of a song by Etienne Daho, Le premier jour du reste de ta vie, which evokes the passage of time and the beginning of things" – remarks Rachid Ouramdane.
The project, which has the support of the Fondazione Ravasi Garzanti in Milan as a scientific partner, is an international co-production that brings together important theatres and companies. Besides Fondazione Nazionale della Danza / Aterballetto, it includes: Ballet Preljocaj (Aix-en-Provence), Chaillot - Théâtre national de la Danse (Paris), Emilia Romagna Teatro ERT/Teatro Nazionale (Modena), Festival Aperto / Fondazione I Teatri (Reggio Emilia), Centro Servizi Culturali Santa Chiara (Trento).
Un jour nouveau | Birthday Party is staged in Paris until February 23.
In early March it will arrive in Aix-en-Provence, at the Pavillon Noir, home of Ballet Preljocaj.
Chaillot – Théâtre national de la Danse
Fondazione Nazionale della Danza / Aterballetto – Centro Coreografico Nazionale