Foi

The first part of the triptych of Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui’s future company, Foi  revolves around the simple question: what do you believe in? Set in a  triangular post 9-11 site designed by Rufus Didwiszus, peculiar  protagonists wake up realizing they survived a disaster and try to find a  way out of this no exit place. They are surrounded by intangible,  invisible angel-like dancing beings, who manipulate the gestures and  actions of the colorful actors, sometimes tender, sometimes  ill-intentioned. Each time they think they’re safe, another catastrophe  hits them, from an earthquake to a gas leak to being slaughtered by a  hammer. Yet every time the chatty characters survive, as if something  was still unfinished, their destiny unfulfilled. The drama is supported  by the 14th century ars nova compositions interpreted live by the singers and musicians of Capilla Flamenca.

Foi premiered on 18th of March 2003, the day the  USA bombarded Iraq. The news, political issues and all its horrors are  part of this dark yet funny piece. Foi toured the world successfully for 2 years.

Years later Foi still resonates to our complex  socio-political reality.In 2010 it returned to the stage by popular  demand. The piece brings together 18 performers, singers, dancers and  musicians in a traditional-style creation of a medieval/contemporary  opera. In collaboration with the ensemble Capilla Flamenca and Christine  Leboutte, the choreography stages pieces of scholarly music from the  fourteenth century, written scores and songs from the oral tradition.  The connection with faith and myth is easy to make: what did you learn  from your parents, what have you heard people tell, what have you read?  What do you still believe? Why do you still believe? What do you want to  survive or be passed down? Are you convinced of this? It is on these  questions that Foi is constructed.

Source: Eastman

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