Errance (Aberrations) + Gaou (Glance back)

ERRANCE - Solo by and with Kettly Noël

GAOU - Choreography by Kettly Noël

Wanting to say something and being unable to find the words. Expressing the indescribable. Reporting on injuries and disgrace, as well as on love and unconcern. Kettly Noël’s choreography ERRANCE draws its vitality from its powerful, expressive character. She wants to show the transformations that take place in the body during the process of remembering. In so doing, she explores the very limits of the possible. GAOU is unusual for African dance: women rarely have an opportunity to choreograph men. This piece was inspired by life in the streets: it shows four young men torn between their search for individuality and their subordination to a group.

Kettly Noël (*1968 in Port-au-Prince) joined Patrick Lacroix’ company at the age of 17, which meant strict training eight hours a day, every day of the week. She grew up in Creolian Haiti and has followed the line linking Black cultures around the Atlantic throughout her life. In the early 1990s she set off for Paris, where she established her first very own company. In 1996, she founded a charitable at project in Benin and worked with young people in the poor districts in Cotonou. She immersed herself in an animistic universe in her first choreography Dans la Cour in 1996. At the same time, Kettly Noël investigated the roots of modern African dance. In 1999 she went to Mali where she once again established her own ensemble. In 2002, she founded a choreographic centre in the capital city of Bamako. She organised a dance festival at the centre in 2004.

Errance

Choreography, stage, dance: Kettly Noël

Music by: Ivo Malec, Björk

Light design: Cyril Monteil

Duration: 30 minutes

German première (World première: October 2004)

Production: Donko Seko, La Compagnie Kettly Noël

Gaou

Choreography, Production, costumes: Kettly Noël

Video: Anouska Brodacz

Light design: Anouska Brodacz, Kettly Noël

Music by: Ivo Malec, Steve Reich

Dance: Ali Karembe, Ousmane Camara, Mohamed Coulibaly, Bokar Dembélé

Duration: 40 minutes

World première