Tanzfaktor

The five short pieces in Tanzfaktor 2024 are explosive and dynamic, and urban dance has its rightful place!

NOT WHERE, BUT WHO - GLORY / ORIANA ZEOLI - ZÜRICH

Not Where, but Who tells the story of two worlds that everything seems to separate: urban dance and contemporary dance and their very different body language. In her popping solo, choreographer and dancer Oriana Zeoli (aka Glory) contrasts eccentric arm movements and knee bends with impulsive, rhythmic shoulder movements, fusing isolated body movements. Glory not only masters the great divide between urban dance and contemporary dance, but also manages to bring these two practices together within her body with extreme precision, and to combine them with music. As a hybrid body, she playfully questions the institutional separation of these two techniques and invites them to engage in dialogue.

Since 2016, "Glory-with the gloryous boogieflava" has made a name for itself on the national and international battles scene. Glory has also been dancing in various dance-theatre productions since 2020, including under the direction of Muhammed Kaltuk with Company MEK at the Ballett Theater Basel and Théâtre la Coupole(FR), in Jorge Garcia Perez's play, also at the Ballett Theater Basel, with the PRISMA collective at the Kurtheater Baden, at the Opernhaus Zürich and in the Bernese dance production "Aseat at the table" with Anna Chiedza Spörri. She can also be seen dancing in "into thedark" and in "Schrei", the forthcoming creation by Toschkin Schalnich (Germany). She also dances in Bordeaux with the Rêvolution company, under the direction of Anthony Égéa, and has been a member of the "Female finesse" collective since 2022, as dancer and choreographer.

ALEA - SIMEA CAVELTI / POMEGRANATE SEED - BASEL

How does water deform? What new paths does the liquefied body take? Fluid, round movements rub shoulders with hard lines, moments of radical immobility oppose the body's infinite whirlpools. In Aléa, performers Lena Schattenberg and Simea Cavelti pay poetic homage to that substance that is both essential and fatal to life: water. They see water as a material that links the inner spaces of the body to the outside world.

Simea Cavelti grew up in Switzerland, then completed a Bachelor of Arts at the London Contemporary Dance School, and now lives between Basel and Beirut. As a dancer and performer, she has worked with a number of international choreographers and directors, including Fabrice Mazliah, Renate Graziadei and Omar Ghayatt. For "Aléa", she is collaborating with Lena Schattenberg, a German dancer who obtained her Bachelor of Arts in Modern Theatre Dance at the Hogeschool voor de Kunsten in Amsterdam and who has worked with choreographers such as Theo Clinkhard, Samuel Feldhandler and Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker. Simea Caveltia was recently invited by the Sursock Museum in Beirut. As in previous projects, she will be working again with Lena Schattenberg.

IDIOSPECT - TAMARA MACINI & BRANCA SCHEIDEGGER - BERN

Two bodies gently sway their legs and arms in space, head downwards, each reflecting the coordinated movements of the other, creating ephemeral landscapes. A wooden frame surrounds and delimits the bodies, whose shadows are extended by the play of light. The set design and lighting help to express the key idea of the choreography: the relationship between delimitation and the resulting exclusion, and how we deal with this dilemma. In IDIOSPECT, performers Tamara Mancini and Branca Scheidegger create an organic movement inspired by waacking, a style of urban dance that originated in the gay community of Los Angeles in the 1970s. With delicacy and skill, the two artists offer a piece full of energy that encourages everyone to fight for the freedom they need.

Tamara Mancini and Branca Scheidegger are Swiss waacking pioneers. Their choreographies and performances are integrated into contemporary artistic projects, and they are committed to promoting waacking in Switzerland. They have been dancing together since the age of 15, developing their own movement language in relation to hip-hop, club dance culture and contemporary dance. The CludaCo - Clubdance Connection - association focuses on promoting club dance styles (waacking, house dance, etc.) as well as interdisciplinary exchanges with other styles. Producing dance productions and promoting this culture play a key role.

‍AENAO∑ - COMPAGNIE LA MÉTHODE, CHOREOGRAPHY BY MAXIME JEANNERAT - NEUCHÂTEL

ΑΕΝΑΟΣ means perpetual, continuous, that starts again and again. In this solo, the choreographer and Maxime Jeannerat stages practices of repetition and pushes the body to its physical limits: combined with intimate lighting, the empty stage becomes the projection surface of human existence. How do we react to life's difficulties? Does the experience we have acquired over the years change the way we approach difficult situations? Maxime Jeannerat brings these questions to the stage in a no-holds-barred way: he struggles, wears himself out, gets back up, falls down again before getting up again. Cie La Méthode was founded in 2022 by Adamantia Papakyriaki and Maxime Jeannerat. The contemporary company follows an artistic vision and stages shows that require a great deal of physical commitment. Virtuosity is used as a means of creating singular and authentic stories. Maxime Jeannerat was born in Neuchâtel in 1995. The choreographer of ΑΕΝΑΟΣ turned to dance after a career as a young elite sportsman, and is particularly interested in freestyle hip-hop, which he has been practising for over 10 years. He is currently studying contemporary dance at the Salzburg Experimenta Academy of Dance-SEAD in Austria, which he will complete in July 2022. He is active as a dancer and performer at national level, and has been involved in the creation of several companies, including Prototype Status, LeLokart and (La) RueSérendip. He also gives contemporary dance workshops in several schools.

CONTRAST - CIE NOUS ET MOI, CHOREOGRAPHY BY CHARLOTTE COTTING, ESTELLE KAESER, ANAÏS KAUER AND ADRIEN RAKO - FRIBOURG

The collective choreography by the four dancers Charlotte Cotting, Estelle Kaeser, Anaïs Kauer and AdrienRako explores the different facets of the term 'contrast'. The movements are meticulously coordinated, sometimes synchronised, sometimes out of sync, creating and breaking up formations to the accompaniment of the sound. Variations in size, speed and intensity are playfully applied using the physical vocabulary of urban dance. The precise, subtle movements weave a choreography punctuated by astonishing twists and turns, inviting the audience to embark on a surprising journey.

Cie Nous et Moi is a contemporary urban dance company made up of Fribourg dancers and choreographers Charlotte Cotting, Estelle Kaeser, Adrien Rako and Anaïs Kauer. The four artists also collaborate with other national and international multidisciplinary groups. The troupe's name sums up its spirit and working ethic in three words. The terms individuality, identity and belonging lie at the heart of the company's reflections and artistic projects. Since it was founded in2016, the company has created eight works and presented them on Swiss stages. "Contraste", a piece choreographed by the four members of the company, has been selected for "InciDanse "2022.