Benjamin Kahn « Bless the Sound that Saved a Witch like me » / Fran Diaz «Born by the Sea » 

19:00 Benjamin Kahn « Bless the Sound that Saved a Witch like me » 

“Bless the Sound that Saved a Witch like me” is a performance choreographed for Sati Veyrunes. Immersed in a vibrant soundscape, the performer makes the audience travel through the exploration of a multitude of screams from the intimate to the collective.

She carries within her the power to speak and to revolt, which gives the work its strength, its political impact and its sense of urgency.

This solo is the second part of a trilogy beginning with “Sorry, But I Feel Slightly Disidentified…” for Cherish Menzo, and “The Blue Hour” for Théo Aucremanne.

Concept, choreography: Benjamin Kahn

Performance: Sati Veyrunes

Music Design: Lucia Ross

Light Design et Stage Management: Neills Doucet

Sound Engineer: Louis Daurat

Dramaturgy Assistant: Théo Aucremanne

Outside Eye: Cherish Menzo

Costume Eye: Carolin Herzberg

Texts: Benjamin Kahn directly inspired from Pier Paolo Pasolini, Death Grips, Darek Jerman, MAVI.

Executive Production: Les Halles de Schaerbeek, Actoral Marseille

Administration production: Léonard Degoulet

Tour development: Sandrine Barrasso

Coproduction : Klap Maison pour la danse, Charleroi Danse, Les Halles de Schaerbeek

Residencies: Festival de Marseille, Centre National de la danse Pantin, Klap Maison pour la danse, Kaaitheater, BUDA Kunstencentrum, Theater Rotterdam

Biography

Benjamin Kahn is a dancer and choreographer. He studied dramaturgy and theatre at the University of Aix-en-Provence and the Conservatoire de Rennes and graduated from ESAC (École Supérieure des Arts du Cirque) in Belgium. After his studies, he collaborated with choreographers such as Philippe Saire, Benjamin Vandewalles, Nicole Beutler, Ben Riepe, Frédéric Flamand, Maud Le Pladec, Egle Budvytyte and Alessandro Sciaronni. He considers dance and choreography to be powerful political tools and is particularly interested in the construction and deconstruction of how we view individual and collective bodies.

 —————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

20:00 Fran Diaz «Born by the Sea » 

In « Born by the Sea », two individual’s cross paths. Traces of their past experiences overlap and diverge, informing the way they move and the choices they make. Framed by faded memories and the romantic bleakness of Richie Culver’s spoken word, their bodies act as living archives, reminding us that while some traces of the past empower us, others can hold us back; shaping how we move and cope in profound ways.

Choreography: Fran Díaz in collaboration with the dancers

Dance : Sandra Bourdais and Louis Steinmetz

Original cast/Co-creation: Keren Leiman and Paxton Ricketts

Music: Richie Culver, The Prodigy

Light design: Kristina Schmidt

Associate artist and video: Manuel Cornelius

Light design: Kristina Schmidt

Co-production: Eisfabrik Hannover

Created thanks to the kind support: of LOT Theater (Braunschweig) and CLOUD/Danslab (The Hague)

Restaged with the kind support of : Staatsballett Hannover

Biography

Fran Díaz is a Spanish choreographer based in Germany. He studied at the National Ballet School of Canada in Toronto and worked as a dancer with the Leipzig Ballet and the Hannover State Ballet under the direction of Marco Goecke. He then dedicated himself to choreography. His work, frequently manifested in multi-disciplinary projects, often explores themes related to the notion of community, the need for a sense of belonging, or the reconfiguration of one’s physical spaces and boundaries. He is also interested in the interface with queer culture and the design of institutional structures. In 2020, his choreography Toothpicks won third prize at the International Choreography Competition in Hannover, and in 2021, he was a finalist at the International Choreography Competition in Copenhagen with his choreography I’ll do the talking. In 2023 he premiered The Habit, a new piece for the Bavarian State Ballet, and two new pieces in the free dance scene, Born by the Sea and Scheme, the latter exploring the challenges of structural change by examining complaint processes in dance institutions.