This event is wheelchair accessible.
French, Malagasy and Haitian Creole with German surtitlesFetching prices
After highly applauded performances in Brussels and Berlin, the up-and-coming choreographer Soa Ratsifandrihana is presenting her first group work at Kaserne! On stage, four bodies defy the violence that has shaped them and weave multi-layered narratives of diasporic life with ease and joy. Ratsifandrihana, guitarist Joël Rabesolo and performers Audrey Merilus and Stanley Ollivier, whose family roots lie in Madagascar, Haiti, Martinique and Guadeloupe, search for a common artistic expression that both unites and honors differences. Their genre-bending work reminds us that traditions can be passed on not only through words, but also through bodies and sounds. Inspired by a trip to Madagascar, they weave choreography, music, poetry and humour into a performance that makes the dynamics of creolization - the mixing and mutual influence of cultures - tangible.
Fampitaha, Fampita, Fampitàna (“comparison, passing on, competition”) is an attempt to re-establish a dialog between diasporic identities and their countries of origin. The performance tells of the violent fragmentation of these experiences and their powerful re-appropriation. From the idea of never having left their islands, the performers develop a parade against exile - a celebration of polyphonic identities.
“Soa Ratsifandrihana effortlessly succeeds in presenting the socio-political fact of the hybridization of culture in dance as an everyday, practical life process - with seriousness, but full of humour and lightness.” - Nachtkritik
Duration: ca. 90 Min.
Biography
Soa Ratsifandrihana is a dancer and choreographer. After studying at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris, Soa worked with James Thierrée, Salia Sanou and Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker. In October 2021, she presented her first solo performance, g r oo v e, in Brussels. The work has already been performed more than 40 times and continues to tour Europe. In May 2024, Soa created a diptych in which she tells a story she would have liked to hear as a child. Fampitaha, fampita fampitàna is part of this diptych. Following on from her first solo, she is interested in the possible interconnections between radio narration, choreographic and musical composition and reminds us that our bodies, just like our words, are carriers of stories. Soa is an associate artist at the Kaaitheater in Brussels from 2023 to 2025 and at the Centre chorégraphique d'Orléans in France from 2024 to 2026.
Credits
Artistic direction Soa Ratsifandrihana
Choreography and interpretation by Audrey Mérilus, Stanley Ollivier, Soa
Ratsifandrihana
Footwork by Raza
Original music and interpretation Joël Rabesolo
Dramaturgy Lily Brieu Nguyen
Artistic collaboration Jérémie Polin Razanaparany aka Raza, Amelia Ewu, Thi Mai Nguyen
Lighting Marie-Christine Soma
Costumes Harilay Rabenjamina
With the complicity of Atelier Costumes du Théâtre Varia Fabienne Damiean, Baptiste Alexandre, Marie-Céline Debande
Sound Chloé Despax, Guilhem Angot
A look at questions of transmission and identity Prisca Ratovonasy
Texts Sékou Sémega
Outside view Maria Dogahe
Video Valérianne Poidevin
Stage Manager Blaise Cagnac
Lighting director Diane Guérin, Julien Rauche (alternating)
Sound Manager Guilhem Angot, Paul Boulier, Jean-Louis Walfart (alternating)
Development, production, distribution ama brussels - Babacar Ba, Clara Schmitt, Emi Parot, France Morin
Delegated production ama brussels, Théâtre Varia
In collaboration with Météores
Coproduction Kaaitheater, Kunstenfestivaldesarts, Théâtre Varia, Charleroi danse, MC93 - Maison de la Culture de Seine-Saint-Denis, ICI - center chorégraphique national Montpellier Occitanie / Direction Christian Rizzo , center chorégraphique national d'Orléans-direction Maud Le Pladec, Le Gymnase-CDCN Roubaix, La Place de la Danse-CDCN Toulouse / Occitanie, Fonds Yavarhoussen, Tanz im August / HAU Hebbel am Ufer, Fonds Transfabrik - fonds franco-allemand pour le spectacle vivant, La Coop asbl, Shelter Prod. Coproduction A-CDCN (Les Hivernales - CDCN d'Avignon, La Manufacture - CDCN Nouvelle- Aquitaine Bordeaux - La Rochelle, L'échangeur - CDCN Hauts-de-France, Le Dancing CDCN Dijon Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, Chorège CDCN Falaise Normandie, Le Pacifique - CDCN Grenoble - Auvergne - Rhône- Alpes, Touka Danses - CDCN Guyane, Atelier de Paris / CDCN, Le Gymnase CDCN Roubaix - Hauts- de-France, POLE-SUD CDCN / Strasbourg, La Place de la Danse - CDCN Toulouse / Occitanie, La Maison Danse CDCN Uzès Gard Occitanie, La briqueterie CDCN du Val-de-Marne).
Residences ICI - CCN Montpellier Occitanie, La Bellone - Maison du spectacle, Gemeenschapscentrum De Kriekelaar, Université d'Antananarivo, KAAP, Le Gymnase-CDCN Roubaix, Théâtre Varia, CCN d'Orléans, Radio Grenouille.
With the support of Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels.
With the support of Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles - Direction de la danse, Wallonie- Bruxelles International, taxshelter.be, ING and tax shelter of the Belgian federal government.
Soa Ratsifandrihana is artist-in-residence at Kaaitheater for the period 2023-25.
Thanks to Julie Iarisoa, Makwa Joma, Arikaomisa Randria, Naivo
Thanks to Maria Dogahe, Jonathan, Do sy Bodo Pour Rado