On stage, an extraordinary body defies both the codes of dance and the laws of physics.
Dancer and choreographer Sofiane Chalal embraces this without hesitation: “People meet me twice, as if my body took up all the space — even mine.”
This almost split identity, between his life on stage and his life off stage, forms the core of Ma part d’ombre, his first work as a choreographer and his first solo.
Part ritual, part initiation, the piece tackles deeply personal — and therefore universal — questions: the body as both ally and adversary, and the paradox, at times invigorating and at times painful, between how we perceive ourselves and how others see us. Sofiane approaches these themes with great sensitivity and with a movement vocabulary that carries the power of hip-hop and the fragility of mime.
Equally at ease in dance battles and on theatre stages, winner of numerous competitions, performer for Farid Berki, Brahim Bouchelaghem and Christophe Piret, and creator of choreographic short films widely shared on social media, he escapes all labels and breaks every expectation.
Here, he lays himself bare in a work that blends dance, text and imagery, exploring in his intuitive and singular way the position of the artist and the way the stage transforms him.
Premiere 22–24 September 2022
Le Manège, Maubeuge — Scène nationale transfrontalière