Priyèr' Sï Priyèr'

Didier Boutiana develops a new choreographic language through a research on the duality of body and spirit. He led a research on rites largely represented on Reunion Island: those from Hindu temples, kabaré and the cockfights.

With its trio of dancers from Reunion Island’s hip hop movement, Priyèr Si Priyèr follows on from the work begun with Reflex, around the notion of ritual. Priyèr Si Priyèr traces the path of the human being in his search for the sacred and the ritual as a collective practice creating social links between individuals.

The setting develops a symbolic approach. Everyday objects have their place on stage. As they are handled by the dancers this gradually creates symbolism where it did not exist before. The subdued lights transport the spectator into a muted universe.

Didier Boutiana transposes the “ritual” into 3 choreographed scenes. He takes his inspiration from the religious eclecticism in the territories of the Indian Ocean, he takes their symbols, then distorts them and redefines their uses through a ritual dance to which the spectators are invited. The transition from one stage to the next marks the crossing of a social and spiritual threshold.

As the dancers bring the objects, this marks the entrance into the ritual where each one comes with his own liabilities: and this helps create a sacred atmosphere. They advance into the ritual using the objects as markers carried as sacred symbols in the service of the dance. The dancers handle the stones carefully, as befits a sacred object.

The trio continue with a dance in unison. This is the start of the second phase of the ritual, where the dancers’ rich energy is brought into play. The body language of the dance examines the use of the hands, the first part of the body called on to make a gesture, assuming it has some sacred significance in the energy and the intention of the one carrying it out.

As the trio continue, the manifestation emerges of that which is not visible and despite the markers that the ritual codes offer, there remains an area of uncertainty around their actions. It leads to mental destruction which becomes apparent as they lose self-control. Physical destruction follows, violence inflicted on themselves or on others. The struggles that will set the trio against each other lead to material destruction: the sacred objects become objects of violence and are adulterated.

For the choreographer, the dancer experiences the sacred in practising his discipline. On stage, he is inhabited by something unknown, a desire to sublimate the gesture, which has something of the sacred within it, yet transcends it.

Source : Lalanbik