Christian et François Ben Aïm (France)
Photo Credit: Patrick Berger & Ben Zank
The Company
The Ben Aïm brothers are dancer-choreographers who have developed a rich body of work consisting of some twenty original productions during their twenty-year partnership, strengthened by collaborations with other artists from diverse backgrounds.
Their story reads like a ploughed furrow, dug with the expertise of field workers liaising with performance spaces and communities.
-Stand Out Pieces-
In 1997, the brothers created their cornerstone piece: A l’ abri du regard des hommes, avant d’aller mourir ailleurs, a hybrid performance in which dancers and actors share and feed off each other’s raw physical energy. La Frontera and Ne vous fiez pas au titre, il peut encore changer followed in the same vein, showcasing a style of dance that blends subtle humour with elements of surprise.
Other signature pieces include the diptych inspired by the work of Bernard-Marie Koltès, Carcasses, un oeil pour deux and En plein coeur, whose original scenography and music resonate with the playwright’s text. L’ogresse des archives et son chien (2011) plays fully on the intersection of different disciplines, while Valse en trois temps flirts with minimalism. La légèreté des tempêtes (2014), Peuplé, dépeuplé (2016) and Brûlent nos coeurs insoumis (2017) all confirm the essential part live music plays in their work, by bringing together dancers and musicians on stage to perform original compositions.
In November 2018 they will present their second piece for young audiences, Mirages — Les âmes boréales (Mirages – Boreal Souls). This year also sees the start of the project Instantanés (Snapshots), a series of female solos, which will continue to be produced until 2022: brief, intimate portraits, light forms that can exist independently or be freely grouped together to create a mosaic with multiple entry points and combinations.
Arise (2019) will be performed at the invitation of the Centre des Monuments Nationaux (National Monuments Centre) for its Monuments in Movement event.
MASTER WORKSHOPS
A workshop by company dance artist: Alex Blondeau
DATE: 4-6 NOVEMBER 2023
TIME: 12:00 – 14:45
INVESTMENT: 800 MXN
VENUE: Invernadero Danza Oaxaca
BOOKINGS: [email protected]
The Performance
Photo by Patrick Berger
Snapshots #3 – Alex Blondeau
With Snapshots, choreographers Christian and François Ben Aïm propose a series of solos performed by women. This work brings into dialogue the springs of intimacy and the hectic forces of the outside world. It unfolds as a fragmented study of what makes up an identity, seen as a moving matter.
Each solo is an opportunity to bring out a new energy, underground, unknown, a reserved part. This study borrows from haiku, the poetry of the moment. Here, through movement and gesture, the choreographers seek to capture this emotion, immediate and fleeting, in the manner of a photographer capturing the decisive moment.
Short pieces, light forms for the stage as well as in situ, they can be presented indoors or outdoors. These solos can live autonomously, alone, or be associated with each other, in a configuration adapted to each occasion and space.
Eventually, this series of short female portraits will constitute a mosaic, a kaleidoscope with multiple entries and combinations.
Choreography: Christian Ben Aïm
Performance: Alex Blondeau
Music composition: Nicolas Deutsch
Bryce Dessner – Ornament 3 par Vanessa Wagner / Michelle Gurevich – Party Girl
DATE: 8 & 9 NOVEMBER 2023
TIME: 18:00
VENUE: La Clínica
