Back Forward by Abou Lagraa

Solo for Sarawanee Taratanit

Duration 27 minutes – The performance will be followed by a discussion with the artists.

“At the instigation of the French Embassy in Thailand, the dancer Sarawanee Tanatanit, Prix de Lausanne 2001 and former soloist with the American Ballet Theater and the Ballet du Grand Théâtre de Genève, came to me. Moved by her, I agreed without hesitation to create a solo for her. Based on her career, I imagined a piece about the notion of time, between past and present, memory and reality. This body, which has gone through moments of glory, is a well of richness that I want to bring to light by creating a dialogue between her classical dance career and my spiral, nervous and incisive dance movements

Beyond virtuosity, poetry and sensitivity will supplant. The lights, cut to the chord, mark out several stages in her story, from impetuous youth to maturity, building up the space to become the centre of the drama. The legendary song “This Bitter Earth”, sung by the jazz diva, Dina Washington, seemed to me an obvious choice, as a poetic way to talk about what is, and what is no longer.

The choreography of this solo is based on different facets of the soloist: power, sensuality, interiority, in order to reveal the story of an extraordinary body”.

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