Soa Ratsifandrihana

Dance

Concept, choreography, interpretation: Soa Ratsifandrihana
Musical creation: Sylvain Darrifourcq and Alban Murenzi
Costume design: Coco Petitpierre
Costume realisation: Anne Tesson
Light creation: Marie-Christine Soma

A talented performer of works by choreographers Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker and Boris Charmatz, Soa Ratsifandrihana presents g r oo v e, her first solo dance piece born from an irrepressible desire to create a show with an emphasis on groove!

“Since I was a child, my imagination has been built around music. I have fond memories of family moments, where we had fun together performing the songs we liked. These performances consisted of a succession of small sophisticated gestures, amplified by the attention we gave them. Our bodies blossomed, filling the silences with aplomb, and audaciously anticipating the accents of the music. In other words, we were trying to ‘get into the groove’.

Originally, the word ‘groove’ was a slang term that originated from jazz music, and more specifically, swing in the late 1930s. It literally means ‘the groove of a record’ or ‘in the loop’. At that time, musicians were looking for a form of rhythmic flexibility. By skillfully articulating the ternary form, they created a swing that is easily identifiable today. We are talking about a phenomenon of embellishment. Over time, the term ‘groove’ has spread. It is obvious that this spirit of rhythm exists or persists in other music.

The generation of millennials, to which I belong, is witnessing an explosion or proliferation of hybrid music, the fruit of digital culture. Dance and culture are undergoing huge change and continue to evolve. In this effervescent maelstrom, I wanted to begin a dialogue with two musicians—Sylvain Darrifourcq and Alban Murenzi—who share the lead in terms of musical creation. Both write rhythms, both make electronic music, but through their musical sensibilities and choice of sound typology,—one creates sharp metallic sounds, close to the glitch aesthetic, and the other employs more instrumental woody hip-hop sounds,—the experience is totally different. How can dance, with its own articulation, hold a conversation with these two sound universes while remaining faithful to its own temporality? This exploration is complemented by the pulsing lights created by Marie-Christine Soma and the narrative embodied in Coco Petitpierre’s costume design.

This show is an invitation to listen and feel the frugal and sensitive pleasure that the act of dancing procures. What matters is the ability to share this feeling with an audience, a feeling that is precious to me, and that only emerges when I go in search of my groove.”

Soa Ratsifandrihana

Soa Ratsifandrihana is a Franco-Madagascan dancer and choreographer. After studying at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse in Paris, Soa began as a performer in creations by James Thierrée (Tabac Rouge) and Salia Sanou (Du Désir d’horizons). She then joined Rosas, the dance company of Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker. Amongst its many productions, Soa danced Fase (including the solo Violin Phase), which choreographer Anne Teresa shared for the first time with a new generation of dancers. This piece was deemed one of the “Best Dances of 2019” in an article by The New York Times, with Soa Ratsifandrihana singled out for the quality of her performance. She recently joined Boris Charmatz’s troupe for the itinerant project 20 danseurs pour le xx^e siècle et plus encore, in which she showcases her distinctive approach to improvisation.

In parallel with her career as a performer, she also creates her own work. In 2016, she collaborated with musicians Sylvain Darrifourcq and Ronan Courty on Tendimite, a minimalist and tense production. Recently, she choreographed Dead Trees Give No Shelter with Florentin Ginot’s HowNow company, presented at Les Subsistances in Lyon. Now based in Brussels, she is focusing on her solo project, entitled g r oo v e. In it, Soa seeks to marry the impulsive and free nature of performance with a rigorous compositional work, against a background or narrative that resonates with her.