With would share, Nassim Battou delivers an interpretation of the different forms that hip-hop can take and intends to question “normal life”. The Ayaghma Company is impressively technical.
If contemporary dance has an unfortunate tendency to exaggerate its concepts to give meaning to the choreographies it creates, the opposite is happening with would share. « This adventure was born from an outpouring “Warns Nassim Battou in his note of intent. The show was born from a long period of creation, three months of introspection, during which the choreographer wondered what normal life meant. And then that’s all.
The lights come on in the room, the stage is covered with a light black veil through which the seven dancers of the Ayaghma Company can be seen. A short film composed of fragments of images is projected, pauses, and the members of the troupe twist their bodies to perform a fairly classic and well-orchestrated hip-hop choreography. In the room, the spectators imagine that this will be all. That would share will be summed up in this polished, polished and technical spectacle that we are witnessing. They are way off.
« What society will we leave? »
On stage, the dancers, women and men, seem to fight in choreographies that combine a form of violence and an undeniable grace. Their bodies fall heavily to the ground. Duos are created, attack each other. Group movements give way to duets, or even a single actor, who interprets his score and can reveal the extent of his technique. An impressive, classic and mastered feat. They fall to the ground, breathe heavily, the lights dim. The dancers come forward as if to salute, it’s too early for the performance to end but it feels like we’ve seen a lot of them already, and their bodies on stage seem exhausted from the effort.
One of the dancers begins, gently and painfully, the air ofstory of a love, by Dalida. Behind her, one of the dancers touches her hair, then her body, with a disturbing insistence. For a short time, we do not know if the show continues. She emerges, at least tries. He insists. A new choreography is relaunched. The scenes of female-male wars continue. ” What society will we leave? asks the choreographer.
The show reinvents itself in the middle of its performance and keeps its viewer spellbound every minute. The sobriety gives way to a totally different score, more flashy, closer to the stereotypes that are plastered on hip-hop. The dancers, funny and grandiose, speak with irony, before resuming a score that exudes an almost frightening power.