Program: Compagnie Hervé KOUBI

Compagnie Hervé KOUBI
Saturday, January 21, 2023
Emerson Cutler Majestic Theatre

Ce que le jour doit à la nuit
(What the Day Owes to the Night)

Choreographer Hervé KOUBI
Assistant to the Choreographer Fayçal HAMLAT
Dancers Badr BENR GUIBI, Giacomo BUFFONI, Mohammed ELHILALI, Youssef EL KANFOUDI, Abdelghani FERRADJI, Vladimir GRUEV, Oualid GUENNOUN, Bendehiba MAAMAR, Nadjib MEHERHERA, Houssni MIJEM, Ismail OUBBAJADDI, El Houssaini ZAHID
Lighting Director Lionel BUZONIE
Costumes Guillaume GABRIEL
Music   Maxime Bodson
            Hamza El Din performed by the Kronos Quartet
            J. S. Bach, Sufi music

I went there on the other side of the sea that saw me grow up on an mine but unknown land.
I went there to see the streets, the houses and the tombs.
I went there without knowing what I was looking for.
I went there to face the void.
I went there to meet my lost brothers.
I went there and my tears sank the facing the forgetfulness and cruel past time.
I went there and I brought back my brothers finally found in my heart.
I went there fulfilled with a brotherly love nowhere else known.
I went there out of love for them and for my people.
I went there because I believe in the strength of love and spirit.
I went there.|
I went there ...

What the Day Owes to the Night
What the Day Owes to the Night (Ce que le jour doit à la nuit) combines capoeira, martial arts, urban dance, and contemporary dance with powerful imagery evocative of orientalist paintings and the stone filigree of Islamic    architecture. Through the choreography, French-Algerian choreographer Hervé Koubi retraces his own history by relating it to the story of a young boy from the novel of the same title by Yasmina Khadra.

The dancers from Algeria and Morocco perform to a combination of Sufi sounds recorded by the Kronos Quartet, music by Hamza El Din from Egypt, and excerpts of one of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Passions.

Hervé Koubi
Of Algerian roots, Hervé Koubi grew up in France, where he studied biology and dance at the University of Aix-en-Provence before graduating with a doctorate in pharmacy in 2002. 

After deciding to concentrate on a dancing career and graduating from the Rosella Hightower School of Dance in Cannes, Koubi gained professional experience as a dancer before creating his first project, entitled Le Golem, and collaborating with Guillaume Gabriel for all his works, and then more recently also with Fayçal Hamlat. Since 2010, he has been working with a group of male urban street dancers from North Africa on several major works that have been performed around the world.

In July 2015, Hervé Koubi was awarded the French medal of Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres.

Co-productions
Ballet of the National Opera of Rhin - National Choreographic Center / National Choreographic Center of Creteil et du Val de Marne - Company Kafig / Palace of the Congress de Loudéac / Cultural Center of Vitré / Ballet
Preljocal - National Choreographic Center of Aix en Provence / Ballet Biarritz - Thierry Malandain - National Choreographic Center / BCMO Pole chorégraphique de Calais / Ville de Calais – Grand Calais terres et mers

North American Exclusive Representation 
Bernard Schmidt Productions Inc., New York City
Tel: 212-564-4443  E-mail: [email protected] www.bernardschmidtproductions.com  

Production Credits
Joseph Levendusky, Production Manager
Daniel Clawson, Master Electrician
Becky Marsh, Asst. Electrician/Programmer
Andrea Dudziak, Electrician
Rob Eckel, Electrician
Hannah Jope, Electrician
Gabe Karr, Electrician
Shelby Marsh, Electrician
Phillip Smith, Electrician
Jonah Yannis, Electrician
Cidalia Santos, Wardrobe
Taylor Hansen, Master Carpenter
Martha Keslar, Carpenters
Emma McGrory, Carpenters
Jack Riter, Carpenters
Wesley Scanlon, Carpenters