Outsider

With twenty-one dancers of the Ballet du Grand Théâtre de Genève and four extreme sport athletes, Rachid Ouramdane’s show is crafted in the image of a crowd. The horizontality of movement couples with Julius Eastman’s hypnotic music.

For several years, Ouramdane has oriented his writing towards masses in motion, in performances that question community and the place each individual seeks within it. After working with The Lyon Opera Ballet (Tout autour, 2014) and the Ballet de Lorraine (Murmuration, 2017), the choreographer brings on board twenty-one performers from the Ballet du Grand Théâtre de Genève, as well as four extreme sport athletes, for a cross-disciplinary creation. Outsider explores the image of the swarm and that precise moment when the horizontality of movement is in jeopardy. The show questions the limit that a dancer or athlete can surpass. In dialogue with the repetitive music of Julius Eastman, a little-known figure in the New York frenzy of the 70s and minimalism, this choreography encourages the performers to take on the risk of falling. It is a bounding pulse that guides the collective movements of the performers like a crowd grappling with the interplay of lines generated by the dimensions of the set and the lighting design.

Photo: © Gregory Batardon