La Nuit and La Traversée followed by Sur le fil compose a journey through the minimalist and spiritual dance of Nacera Belaza. Moving from the solo to the duo and then the trio, these dances explore three times the same release that conquers existential loneliness.
The solitude in La Nuit is essential to "remain porous to its environment and to be able to welcome the world into itself." La Traversée opens up this quest for the imperceptible to two performers who are like magnets to each other, a sketch of a new celebration carried by a memory of rhythms and steps from ancient traditions. Sur le fil, finally the culmination, is suspended between the visible and invisible, between transcendence and internality. This lively trio is free, even rebellious, and brings the performers and the audience to a place that "we agree not to know" carried along by a fascinating sound track that evokes both adolescence and a Sufi prayer.
Born in Algeria, Nacera Belaza has been living in France since the age of five. After her studies in modern literature at the Université de Reims, she founded her dance company in 1989.
In January 2015, she was appointed Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters by the French Ministry of Culture. She started to dance as a self-taught performer and has developed a voice that originates in an inner quest, a deep awareness of the body, of space and of the emptiness inside herself. She creates a direct bond between the dancer and the spectator, opening the infinitity of the stage. Each element of her works -- light, space, time, the body -- respond to each other on stage and develop their own designs.
The repetition of the gesture, its infinite slowness, the stretching out of time; Nacera Belaza's pieces all explore movement as one would explore a calm, profound and continuous breath, one that would mix with "the deafening roar of our existence."
Nacera Belaza's Company tours often throughout Europe, as well as to Africa, Asia and North America. In France, they appear often in prestigious venues and at festivals such as the Festival Montpellier Danse (2003, 2006, 2012, 2014), the Rencontres Chorégraphiques Internationales de Seine-Saint-Denis (2008, 2010), the Festival d’Avignon (2009, 2012), the Biennale de la danse de Lyon (2010, 2014), and the Festival de Marseille (2017, 2018).
Nacera Belaza's path has continually maintained a regular presence between Algeria and France. Concurrently with her company's activities in France, she has founded an artistic cooperative in Algeria. She has been in charge of the contemporary dance festival Le Temps dansé’s program since 2013 and offers training and outreach activities for audiences on the themes of contemporary art and of the danced gesture.
Nacera Belaza’s performances are made possible by FUSED (French U.S. Exchange in Dance), a program developed by FACE Foundation and the Cultural Services of the French Embassy in the United States with the support from the Florence Gould Foundation, nstitut français-Paris, the French Ministiry of Culture and private donors. Additional support for women artists has been provided by Fondation CHANEL. Support is also provided by Cultural Services of the French Embassy.