Outsider
Rachid Ouramdane

In 2023, Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels is supporting the creation of Outsider by Rachid Ouramdane and its presentation during the 2023-2024 season of the Grand Théâtre de Genève, as well as at La Villette, as part of the Chaillot – Théâtre National de la Danse 2023-2024 season.
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
About the Artist

Rachid Ouramdane
Since 2021, Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels is supporting Rachid Ouramdane for his piece Corps extrêmes presented in Abu Dhabi, London, Seoul and New York in 2023.