Héla Fattoumi

Since their beginnings, Héla Fattoumi and Éric Lamoureux have traced a singular path, affirming a work written for two. Their first creation, Husaïs, won the SACD Grand Prix for 1st work at the Bagnolet International Competition in 1990, followed by the trio Après-midi – Prix Nouveaux Talents Danse de la SACD in 1991 – propelled them to international recognition. In the wake of this success, they went on to create a number of works inspired by writers and poets such as Nathalie Sarraute, Clarisse Lispector, Antonio Ramos Rosa and Roberto Juarroz, giving rise to evocative titles such as Si loin que l’on aille, Miroirs aux alouettes, Solstice, Asile Poétique…

From Wasla, ce qui relie… (1998) onwards, they turned their attention to issues linked to the worlds of the South. Indeed, Wasla is Héla Fattoumi’s confrontation with her Arab-Muslim culture, like a return to her native land through dance. This was followed by La Madâ’a (2004) with the Joubran trio, Palestinian oud virtuosos, and La danse de Pièze (2006), a male duo inspired by the Syrian poet Adonis on the notion of “homosensuality”. Then a triptych with MANTA (2009), a solo by Héla Fattoumi addressing the issues raised by the wearing of the niqab, the Muslim full-face veil; Lost in burqa (2011), a fashion show-performance immersing 8 male and female performers in the “sculptural garments” of Moroccan visual artist Majida Khattari; Masculines (2013) on Orientalist representations of Ingres’ Turkish Bath on either side of the Mediterranean. This was followed by a series of creations (including Waves, Sympathetic Magic and Oscyl), which traveled extensively in France and abroad.

The quest for otherness, the need to question the contours and limits of identity and all forms of assignment lead them to authors such as Édouard Glissant – with Just to dance (2010), an improbable encounter between 9 dancers from Brazzaville, Kyoto and France and the Franco-Algerian musician Camel Zekri. Changing by exchanging” is fully embodied in AKZAK, l’impatience d’une jeunesse reliée (2020), which brings together 12 dancers from 3 Arab countries and sub-Saharan Africa in dialogue with the rhythmic combinations of Xavier Desandre Navarre.

On the occasion of the company’s 30th anniversary, various retrospective and transmission projects enable us to rediscover the repertoire and bring it to life through a new generation of dancers. In 2022, ZAK Rythmik (re-creation of AKZAK) continues the momentum of the grande forme, reuniting 5 dancers from the original cast. The work La Part des femmes (Anne Pellus) gives rise to a stage creation, as well as a photographic and digital exhibition on Numeridanse. With TOUT-MOUN (2023), they delve even deeper into the poetics and mental landscapes of Édouard Glissant, in dialogue with saxophonist Raphaël Imbert. With GOAL – Fantaisie pour passement de jambes (2024), a piece inspired by the world of soccer, they return to their initial university training (in STAPS), which marked the first moments of their journey together.

Since the duet Husaïs, when they met, Héla Fattoumi and Éric Lamoureux, who have become choreographers together, have focused on questioning relationships.

We’re trying to share the obsessions that have been with us since the start of our work: what’s going on between people? What presence do we have with others?

Our dance is not conceptual. It is rooted in the observation of the dancing body. On the lookout for it, we track down the images in which it becomes incarnate. The moments when it lets slip to the outside the sometimes tenuous clues that contain an emotional charge, a power of correspondence, of association, of transposition, of relation, of creation of meaning. (…) In this way, we give ourselves the chance to give birth to an original language that emanates from the body and plunges the dance into certain inner zones that touch on the unconscious. In this mysterious place, we like to talk about the notion of the sensitive experience of reality.

MAIN CHOREOGRAPHIES

1990 : Husaïs
1991 : Après-midi
1992 : Fiesta
1992 : Si loin que l’on aille
1995 : Prélude et Résonance
1996 : Solstice
1998 : Asile poétique
1998 : Wasla (solo), ce qui relie…
2000 : Des souffles de vie
2001 : Vita nova
2001 : Exode
2002 : Animal regard
2004 : La Mâdaa
2006 : Pièze (unité de pression)
2006 : La Danse de Pièze
2007 : Mille départs de muscles
2008 : Apparat
2008 : performance Giacometti
2008 : Husaïs (re-création)
2009 : Manta
2010 : Just to Dance…
2010 : Solstice (remix)
2011 : Lost in Burqa
2013 : Masculines
2013 : Une douce imprudence
2013 : Flânerie
2014 : Concert-dansé, avec Peter von Poehl
2014 : Waves
2015 : Après-midi (re-création)
2017 : Sympathetic Magic
2017 : Oscyl
2018 : Swing Museum
2021 : AKZAK, L’impatience d’une jeunesse reliée
2021 : EX-POSE(S)
2022 : ZAK Rythmik
2022 : La Part des femmes, une traversée chorégraphique
2023 : TOUT-MOUN
2024 : GOAL – Fantaisie pour passement de jambes 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

• Fattoumi Lamoureux, Danser l’entre l’autre – Christine Roquet (préface Jean-Marc Adolphe), Éditions Séguier, 2009
• Instinct de Danse – Christophe Wavelet, Marie-Christine Vernay, Natacha de Pontcharrat, Éditions En Vues / Émile Lansman, 1999
• La Part des femmes – Fattoumi-Lamoureux – Anne Pellus, Nouvelles éditions Place, 2021

FILMS

• Solstice (film) – Christophe Bargues, Lancelot Film / Urvan Letroïga / Le Centre Pompidou / Canal+, 1996
• Animal Regard (film) – Benjamin Silvestre, Urvan Letroïga / Cie des Indes / France 3 Lorraine-Champagne Ardenne / TV8 Moselle-Est / L’Arsenal de Metz, 2003
• Entre-Temps – Benjamin Silvestre, Heure d’été productions / Urvan Letroïga / TV8 Moselle-Est, 2005
• La Madâ’a (film) – Benjamin Silvestre, Heure d’été productions / Arte France / CCNC/BN, 2006
• Manta (film) – Valérie Urréa, Compagnie des Indes / Centre Chorégraphique National de Caen/Basse-Normandie, 2013
• Danser sur les frontières – Élise Darblay et Antoine Depeyre, Easy Tiger Productions / VIADANSE, 2022