Contre-nature

With this production from Chaillot – Théâtre national de la Danse, Rachid Ouramdane continues to explore aerial movement in a piece that mixes body contactand off-the-ground dancing.

Following society-oriented shows (Loin, Des Témoins ordinaires, Sfumato, Franchir la nuit) based on intimacy (TORDRE, Corps extrêmes, Outsider) and shows conceived for monumental settings (Möbius Morphosis with Compagnie XY, which performed in July 2024 at the Panthéon in Paris), Rachid Ouramdane intends to return to the study of movement. In this new work, the choreographer aims to highlight what drives our imagination of movement in a continued effort to explore aerial gestures. Alongside him are ten performers of the Compagnie de Chaillot with various styles and techniques. ‘It takes people with somewhat diverse backgrounds, people equally comfortable in the air and on the ground. We need all these ways of dancing, moving and lunging, and share all of that’, explains the choreographer. 

To that end, the motley group with subtle movement styles will gather to combine and intertwine its languages and spawn a new one at the intersection of aerial performance and dance. 

On a bare stage, now delineated by lighting showing projected images in a mist, Rachid Ouramdane conjures childhood and aging. Through elements evocative of passing time and absence, he imagines ‘how we keep going, influenced by other people that are not around anymore, these ghosts that accompany us’.