ZONA FRANCA
Alice Ripoll
In 2023, Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels is supporting the Festival d’Automne à Paris to present ZONA FRANCA by Alice Ripoll.
ZONA FRANCA: the title evokes the vision of a world in which everything can be shared, in a completely open way. In this latest piece, which incorporates different popular dances and music in a free manner, Alice Ripoll and her performers enable us to see how a newly-resurrected Brazil can reinvent itself.
ZONA FRANCA was first performed at the end of Jair Bolsonaro’s period of government and the return of Lula as the head of Brazil, in a country scarred by tensions and social and economic inequalities. Starting from the base of what these changes have meant for individuals and society alike, Alice Ripoll uses these life experiences as the basis for choreographic research into modes of action and collective creation. Following on from Suave and Cria, in conjunction with the Suave company, and its encounter between urban dance and contemporary dance, ZONA FRANCA goes one step further in this hybridization process in its association between theatre and song, and blend of popular dances from the north and north-east of Brazil with afro dances and afro house. Onstage the ten performers move, sing, and handle coloured balloons, elements in a contemporary ritual which invites the audience to experience a wide range of emotions, between a vulnerability, deep-seated anger and great joy.
Text : © Yaël Kreplak
Photo: © Renato Mangolin
About the artist
Alice Ripoll
Born in Rio de Janeiro, Alice Ripoll initially studied psychology before shifting her focus to dance, motivated by curiosity about the body’s capabilities and a desire to explore movement. She launched a choreographic career after earning a degree from the Escola Angel Vianna – a major choreographic and motor function rehabilitation center. Her work combines contemporary dance and Brazilian urban dance through research that offers dancers space to represent their experiences and inner memories. Alice Ripoll heads two collectives: REC and SUAVE. Her work has been performed at several Brazilian festivals including the Festival Panorama in Rio de Janeiro, and abroad at Kampnagel – Internationales Sommerfestival in Hamburg, the Rencontres Chorégraphiques de Seine-Saint-Denis and the Brussels Kunstenfestivaldesarts.
Photo : Alice Ripoll © Renato Mangolin
