Point Zéro

It is sometimes difficult to know where we are going, but we do know  where we come from. Dance, street dance, hip hop and contemporary dance  are our DNA. We have fully experienced these differing vocabularies  which have redefined us as artists, each and every time.

Point Zéro is above all, an invitation to  dance — with two of my friends, both well-known dancers. It is about  experiencing together the journey each of us have taken, through the  various aesthetics which are the landmarks of that journey. Johanna,  Mathias and I all began doing street dance, then each of us chose our  own paths, as it were, filled with personal encounters, sharing, a  hybridization of ideas. Point Zero is literally the central, chosen  place from which all distances are calculated. What is the road we have  traveled on during all these years of research? In France our point zero  is the plaza in front of the great Cathedral, Notre Dame de Paris, in a  city which is also one of the centers of hip hop culture.  Coincidentally, there was a terrible fire at Notre Dame this year,  creating a wave of emotion and sadness.

What remains of our cathedral of urban dancers, of our original  chapels? Are they still intact after so many years? Are we still able to  go back there, to draw from this place to create, transmit, move  together? For Mathias the answer is a firm ‘yes’ – he never gave up his  signature dance, a fusion of street dance and hip hop. There is however  the question of the aging of the body, which affects somewhat the  physical intensity of his dance vocabulary. With Johanna, I am  interested in exploring not only finding a balance between the multiple  techniques which coalesce in her dancing, but also the space where the  brute tonicity of Mathias meets the fluidity and flow which I have  worked with for so many years.

Point Zéro is also an opportunity to begin  addressing the power relationship I intend to explore in my next group  work, planned for 2022. For many years I have looked to prioritize a  relationship of caring, based on personal encounter and experiencing  things together. An honorable choice but an idea which runs contrary to  the reality of current reltationships. Is otherness also a subtle game  of power? How can we remain authentic? What am I willing to give up?  What relationship can be built if we are trying to create it together  while remaining faithful to our individualism?

Source: Amala Dianor

More information: amaladianor.com