Territoires

Jeff Ridjali is working on choreographic research into the specific features of his island of Mayotte, in the Comoros archipelago. This piece is a work in progress. He is creating the solo piece Territoires by examining it in the plural.

Jeff Ridjali is working on choreographic research into the specific features of his island of Mayotte, in the Comoros archipelago. This piece is a work in progress. He is creating the solo piece Territoires by examining it in the plural.

At this stage of the work, the island is seen in two ways. It is present in the materials that can represent Mayotte, but also in the intimate universe of the choreographer which he projects into his dance. Jeff Ridjali transposes his island onto the stage: we see “baliés” (house brooms made from the veins of coconut palm leaves), a “sézi” (a mat to rest on, woven from palm leaves), traditional music and the sounds of nature recreated, like the ocean depths that define the space in which the dancer evolves.

Through the improvised solo, the dancer’s intuition defines a relationship with the space linked with the discovery of other materials, as if this is a territory that is trying to find itself.

He evolves in his scenography and from one performance to the next, the choreographer adds, removes or changes the objects that accompany him on stage. They therefore define a space for the dancer but they also create obstacles for him. The dancer makes progress in rather the same way as Mahorais society, as it is perceived by the choreographer: between taboos and prohibitions. Steps on the spot anchor movement to the ground like slaves with their feet in chains, revisiting Mahorais history.

By approaching this theme through movement he draws on the possibilities offered by the calligraphy of the Arab alphabet, as taught in Mayotte: writing, drawing, delineating are causing part of the body to move. He offers a transcription of the slow, improvised movements of this calligraphy, … filling all the space on stage through his body.