Ballet Du Grand Théâtre de Genève

On the stage, a platform inclined at 34 degrees rises diagonally to the heights. On it, on their knees, crawling, sliding backwards or for brief moments standing, seventeen dancers persistently try to climb the slope and avoid falling. Skid, created in 2017 at the Göteborg Opera House, puts bodies to the test of gravity. The device imagined by the visual artists Jim Hodges and Carlos Marques da Cruz becomes the terrain for multiple physical experiments that in turn give rise to as many emotional states, from resistance to abandonment. In this unstable universe, physical contact with the other remains the best recourse when faced with the call of the void, a beautiful metaphor for the human condition.

Conversely, Vïa, created in April 2023 by Fouad Boussouf, returns forcefully to the ground from which everything was born. The choreographer entrusted the artist Ugo Rondinone, with whom he had collaborated in 2020 for a video-dance installation, with the creation of a surface evoking both the sun-warmed asphalt of urban dances and the African earth of the origins. Supported by Gabriel Majou's electro-symphonic pulsations, the fifteen performers go through a series of organic metamorphoses in dance cycles that are linked to trance. Like a vital breath that never stops.


Damien Jalet,
Born in Brussels, Damien Jalet started out as a dancer for Wim Vandekeybus, then moved to the Ballets C de la B where he met Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui. He signed his first choreographies with him and has since created numerous pieces for several companies around the world. He also collaborates with the cinema, the theatre and the visual arts, and teaches internationally in various dance centres.

Fouad Boussouf
Dancer, choreographer and dance teacher, Fouad Boussouf, born in Morocco, arrived in France at the age of 7. He was introduced to hip-hop dance, modern jazz and the new circus, and in 2010 founded the Massala company. His pieces, including Näss (Les Gens) and OÜM, are inspired by his multiple training and the culture of his country of origin. Since January 2022, he has directed the Centre chorégraphique national du Havre.

Ballet du Grand Théâtre de Genève
Founded in 1962 as a permanent company, the Ballet du Grand Théâtre de Genève, composed of 22 artists, has been under the direction of artist and choreographer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui since 2022.

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