Program: Fouad Boussouf
Le Phare
CCN du Havre Normandie
Direction: Fouad Boussouf
Näss (People)
Creation: 2018
October 14 & 15, 2022
ICA/Boston
Artistic Director and Choreographer: Fouad Boussouf
Dancers: Sami Blond, Mathieu Bord, Maxime Cozic, Yanice Djae, Loïc Elice, Justin Gouin, Maelo Hernandez
Assistant Choreographer: Bruno Domingues Torres
Lighting Designer: Fabrice Sarcy
Costumes and Scenography: Camille Vallat
Music: Roman Bestion, Fouad Boussouf, Marion Castor
Tour Manager: Mathieu Morelle
Light Manager: Romain Perrillat-Collomb
First there is rhythm, the sounds of immemorial time, unceasing and obsessive. From this rhythm is born the communion of seven dancers, a fusion of energies and bodies, the power of the community with its inherent violence and weaknesses.
On the border between the sacred and the profane, between frenetic modernity and ancestral rituals, Näss challenges contradictory physical states and affirms the fusion between the popular and urban aspects of hip-hop. It questions its proper roots, tracing their evolution up to the present day. Sources of inspiration are the regional Moroccan dances Taskiwine and Reggada (traditional Berber martial dances), as well as the mysticism of the Moroccan and West African Gnawa tradition of Islamic songs and rhythms.
Fouad Boussouf says, “The history of the famous band Nass elGhiwane from the 1970s in North Africa has been of key inspiration to me. Their lyrics reminded me of the strange connection with the antiestablishment current of rap and hip-hop from the same period in the United States. I discovered a type of hip-hop that is more spiritual, impregnated with ancestral traditions.”
Näss reveals a universal dimension, the eternal quest of men and women for someplace else, spiritual or physical, using as its language the rhythm that unites and moves their bodies. Fouad Boussouf stands behind a kind of hip-hop that is strongly anchored in its tribal African roots.
Production takeover: Le Phare - Centre chorégraphique national du Havre Normandie / direction Fouad Boussouf
Production: Compagnie Massala
Coproducers: Théâtre Jean-Vilar deVitry-sur-Seine / Le Prisme àÉlancourt / Institut du Monde Arabe—Tourcoing / Fontenay-en-Scènes—Fontenay-sous-bois / Théâtre des Bergeries de Noisy-le-Sec / La Briqueterie—CDCN du Val-de-Marne / Le FLOW—Pôle Culture Ville de Lille / Institut Françaisde Marrakech
Financial Support: ADAMI / Conseil Départemental du Val-de-Marne / RégionÎle-de-France / Ville de Vitry-sur-Seine / SPEDIDAM / Institut Françaisdu Maroc
Residenciesand Support: La Briqueterie—CDCN du Val-de-Marne / Le POC d’Alfortville / Centre National de la Danse / Le FLOW—Pôle Culture Ville de Lille / Cirque Shems’yde Salé, Maroc / Royal Air Maroc
Le Phare—Centre Chorégraphique National du Havre Normandie receives support from the French Ministry of Culture, Le DRAC de Normandie, the Normandy region, the City of Le Havre, and the Departmental Council of Seine-Maritime.
Fouad Boussouf is an Associated Artist at the Maison de la Danse in Lyon, at Équinoxe—ScèneNationale de Châteauroux, and at the Maison de la Musique in Nanterre, scèneconventionnéed’intérêt national.
FOUAD BOUSSOUF
A choreographer, dancer and teacher, Fouad Boussouf trained as a hip-hop dancer - his favourite style - but takes inspiration from different dance forms, including contemporary dance. His multidisciplinary career and experience as a performer make for a resolutely modern approach to choreography and dancing, where hip-hop meets and merges with contemporary expression, traditional North-African dances and new circus. Difficult to classify, his work fuses these influences and addresses pressing contemporary topics through the performances of his dancers.
FROM "MASSALA" TO "LE PHARE"
Established by Fouad Boussouf in 2010, Massala Company blends styles and artistic practices as diverse as hiphop, contemporary dance and new circus, as well as traditional dance forms and music from Boussouf’s native Morocco and the Arab World. Mixing different rhythms and influences, Massala’s creations are oriented towards transmitting and sharing emotions, thanks to the technical mastery and the inexhaustible expressiveness of the dance. At the heart of the artistic development of the company lays the sensual and physical relationship to our roots and our mixed cultures.
In 2022, Fouad Boussouf was appointed director of "Le Phare" (Lighthouse), National Choreographic Center of Le Havre-Normandie (France). New place, new name : from now on, all the shows created by the Massala company are brought together under a single and sparkling banner: Le Phare.
The presentation of Fouad Boussouf: Näss is made possible by FUSED (French U.S. Exchange in Dance), a program of Villa Albertine and FACE Foundation, in partnership with the French Embassy in the United States with support from the Florence Gould Foundation, The Ford Foundation, Institut français-Paris, the French Ministry of Culture, and private donors.
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