North American Premiere
Breathing, voices, silence and intoxicating jazz rhythms compose the eerie atmosphere of “OMMA,” guiding the audience through a journey of self-knowledge, as primal as the very nature of dance itself. For Josef Nadj, it is essential that the performance is about bodies and movement, retaining only what is necessary. This principle of simplicity extends to all elements that make up “OMMA.” On the bare stage, the bodies of eight dances, the sound and the lighting are enough to offer the audience a breathtaking experience.
Eight dancers take to the stage, wearing suit jackets and black trousers, as a reference to the timeless silhouette of Josef Nadj. By lending them his attire, the award-winning choreographer challenges each dancer to not follow in his footsteps, but to reveal their own uniqueness.
In OMMA, Nadj brings together a group of dancers from Mali, Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Congo-Brazzaville and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, creating a project with influences from various artistic movements, cultures and human stories. Together they form a single body. A multi-cell organism, through which each of them reveals his own language, his own identity, his own dance: a fascinating feedback loop between the group and the individual is born, inevitably guiding us to man as a universal being.
Can a performance be called organic? OMMA undoubtedly returns to the roots of dance, with movement as its substance and the universe as its horizon. In other words, OMMA is a search for the origins of dance, seeking to prove Josef Nadj’s hypothesis that dance was born along with humanity. If this is so, does not returning to the source of dance and movement equate to returning to the origin of the universe? The choreographer shapes the raw materials provided by his dancers and constructs—along with them and their body—a dance that is common, multidimensional, and universal.
Nadj takes his dancers on a journey to the roots of dance, where the balance of the universe is revealed. Reflecting the cycle of life, OMMA explores something essential: our ability to see what lies ahead, so that we may better see what lies deep within us, in a common destiny. This way, the ancient Greek meaning of the word OMMA acquires a new meaning: “eye” but also “that which sees or looks.” Therein lies an invitation to keep our senses alert, so that we may better understand this dance, dedicated to the genesis of humanity.
Duration: 55 minutes
Location: Vancouver Playhouse, 600 Hamilton St, Vancouver, BC V6B 2P1
Choreography: Josef Nadj with Djino Alolo Sabin, Timothé Ballo, Abdel Kader Diop, Aipeur Foundou, Bi Jean Ronsard Irié, Jean-Paul Mehansio, Marius Sawadogo, Boukson Séré
Artistic collaboration: Ivan Fatjo
Light Design: Rémi Nicolas
Soundtrack: Tatsu Aoki & Malachi Favors Maghostut, Peter Brötzmann & Han Bennink, Eureka Brass Band, Jigsaw, Lucas Niggli, Peter Vogel
Technical manager: Sylvain Blocquaux
Sound engineer: Ivan Fatjo or Steven Le Corre or Pierre Carré
Production & Touring: Bureau PLATÔ – Séverine Péan
Production, logistic and communication: Bureau PLATÔ – Mathilde Blatgé
Administration: Arnauld Lisbonne
Born in Kanjiža, in the province of Vojvodina (in the former Yugoslavia, and today’s Serbia) into a Hungarian-speaking family.
After training at the fine arts school in Budapest, he settled in Paris, studying mime and being initiated to tai-chi, butoh and contemporary dance as a performer with Sidonie Rochon, Mark Tompkins, Catherine Diverrès and François Verret.
His novel and insolent approach marked him down in the ‘80s as a pioneer of contemporary dance. Since Canard Pékinois (1987), his foundational piece, Josef Nadj has been ploughing a furrow of demanding and passionate choreography. Whether exploring texts by atypical writers (Beckett, Kafka, Michaux) or collaborating on stage with visual artists (Miquel Barceló) or musicians (Akosh Szelevényi, Joëlle Léandre), Josef Nadj thrives in a state of total freedom. As if eager to arouse our senses, he blends references, signs and materials. Swinging between reality and oneirism, between tradition and modernity, he poses the essential question: man’s relationship with himself.
A choreographer and dancer, but also a visual artist and photographer, he beholds humankind with a poetic and passionate gaze, always searching for fresh forms. The originality of his creative flair derives from his artistic pathway through the convulsions of European history. Josef Nadj is an artist without borders or barriers.
Josef Nadj has authored 40-plus dance works and exhibitions staged in nearly 50 countries. He has been a guest artist at major international events (Avignon Festival, International Tchekhov Festival, Prague Quadriennial…). Over the years, his creations have unarguably become fixtures in the contemporary dance repertoire.
Josef Nadj was made a Knight of France’s Order of Arts and Letters in 2002, for his work’s contribution to the promotion of the arts in France and worldwide. In 2011 he was promoted to the rank of Officer. He headed the National Choreography Centre (CCN) of Orléans from 1995 to 2016, before founding his new company, Atelier 3+1, in Paris in 2017.
Minimum age: 14 years
