Bouchra Ouizguen
Carte Blanche Jerada

[Dance]

Here, at the invitation of Norway’s national contemporary dance company, the Moroccan choreographer Bouchra Ouizgen uses competing circles and spirals to summon up the shapes and figures of infinity. In this production, fourteen dancers whirl and spin to the exalted rhythms of the Dakka Marrakchia... to spellbinding effect.

From out of the half-light a song is heard. A dancer takes to the floor. Others join in, abandoning themselves to the whirling motion. The archaic figures of the circle and spiral unfurl from these rotations, centered around competing peripheries. How is it possible to survive in this whirlpool without end or beginning ? Exhaustion takes hold, and play sets in. Little by little, the incessant gyrating rids the moving bodies before us of all forms of vocabulary, role or reference point. An indefinable, constantly evolving “elsewhere” issues forth, which is both beyond ourselves and beyond the realms of time. A parallel emerges with the Dakka Marrakchia, a timeless chant which transports its listeners and provides the unshakeable rhythm for the dancers’ steps. Bouchra Ouizgen, self-taught and free of any academic affiliation, has been writing for Moroccan singers, musicians and dancers for the last ten years now. These performers constituted the driving force behind her previous productions Madame Plaza, Ha! OTTOF and Corbeaux - the last two of which were presented at the 2015 and 2016 editions of the Festival d’Automne. As inheritors of a rich popular culture, and free from the codes of western contemporary dance, these artists have together been exploring “the route towards the freeing of the body”. At the invitation of Hooman Sharifi, artistic director of Carte Blanche, a major company on the Scandinavian creative scene, Bouchra Ouizgen and her dancers probe into the spaces arising from abandon. In the eyes of Bouchra Ouizgen, this is a search for the essence of things.
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Running time: 1h